Is Telegram Banned in India? Govt Blocks App Till 22 June Amid NEET Row, Pavel Durov Hits Back
Is Telegram Banned in India? Yes, Telegram is temporary banned in India until 22nd June 2026. The Ministry of Electronic and IT (MeitY) blocked the app under Section 69A of the IT Act on the recommendation of the National Testing Agency, after cheating rackets used Telegram channels to sell fake NEET (UG) 2026 re-exam leak claims. Telegram’s message editing feature is separately disabled in India till 30th June 2026.
Is Telegram banned in india Ban in India? What Triggered the Telegram”
The trouble started when several telegram channels, operating openly under names like “PAPER LEAKED NEET”, “Re-NEET 2026” and “Private Mafia”, began demanding money from NEET candidates and their families in exchange for what they claimed was advance access to the re-examination paper. Some scammers reportedly asked for a few thousand rupees, others for several lakhs.
The India Cyber Crime Coordination Centre(I4C), working under the Ministry of Home Affairs, had been removing these channels one by one for weeks. But officials say the scale of the problem outgrew that approach, and Telegram itself wasn’t responding fast enough at the platform level. That’s when MeitY stepped in and invoked section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to block the app entirely, calling it a “measure of last resort”,
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Telegram banned in India right now?
Yes, Telegram access has been temporarily restricted across India till 22 June 2026, after the government acted on NTA recommendation to curb NEET- related paper – leak scams running through the platform
Why is Telegram not Working Today in India?
It’s not a technical fault. The disruption is the result of a government order under Section 69A of the IT act, issued ahead of the NEET 2026 re-examination, not a telegram down outage.
What did Pavel Durov say about the ban?
Durov called the banna rash decision, saying it punishes over 150 million genuine Indian users while the scammers behind the fraud simply moved their activity to other messaging apps.
Can I still download the Telegram app in India?
New Android users can’t, since Telegram was removed from the Google Play Store on 16 June. It’s still available on the Apple App Store for now.
How is NEET connected to the Telegram Ban?
Fraudulent Telegram channels were demanding money from NEET candidates by falsely claiming to have leaked The re-exam paper, prompting the NTA to recommend the platform restriction.
