The Central Government on Tuesday ordered a 24-hour suspension of Telegram services following a recommendation from the National Testing Agency (NTA), the authority responsible for conducting major qualifying examinations, including the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), which serves as the gateway for admission to medical courses across the country.
According to the government, the temporary restriction was imposed to prevent examination paper leaks, curb the spread of misinformation, and dismantle organised cheating networks. Authorities also directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature during the period of concern. The NTA alleged that the feature had been misused to fabricate evidence of examination paper leaks by editing messages and inserting questions after examinations had concluded while preserving the original timestamps.
The testing agency, which has faced intense scrutiny from students and civil society groups over repeated incidents of leaked examination papers, argued that a temporary suspension of Telegram could help disrupt syndicates allegedly using the platform’s secure communication channels to distribute pre-solved question papers to aspiring medical students.
The NTA further claimed that desperate candidates were being targeted by fraudsters demanding substantial sums of money in exchange for access to allegedly leaked re-examination papers. According to the agency, payments sought ranged from approximately Rs 25,000 to as high as Rs 10 lakh for purported access to examination materials.
Following the government’s directive, Google and Apple, whose Android and iOS operating systems account for more than 99 per cent of mobile devices in India, temporarily removed Telegram from their respective application stores.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov strongly criticised the decision, arguing that the measure unfairly penalises millions of legitimate users without addressing the root cause of the problem. “India banned Telegram for one week because some users shared leaked exam questions. This punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users — not insiders who leaked exam materials. Ban hasn't stopped anything. Leaks will move to other apps,” Durov said.
However, authorities investigating the alleged NEET examination paper leak from May stated that Telegram groups had been actively offering leaked question papers for sale, often exploiting candidates’ anxiety and the intense pressure associated with highly competitive examinations. Investigators also noted that tracking such networks remains challenging because many users employ Virtual Private Networks to conceal their digital identities and online activities.
While many students welcomed the temporary suspension of Telegram as a measure to protect the integrity of the examination process, they also stressed that the primary focus of both the government and testing authorities must remain on preventing examination paper leaks at their source.
The legal challenge now places the government’s decision under judicial scrutiny, highlighting the growing conflict between examination security measures and the impact of digital platform restrictions on millions of users. The outcome of the case could have significant implications for how authorities address technology-enabled examination fraud while balancing access to widely used communication services.
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