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The National Testing Agency (NTA) restricted access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending 22 June 2026, covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath. The restriction addresses the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event "paper leak" evidence in respect of national examinations.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued these calibrated directions following recommendations by the NTA and the Department of Higher Education to check organised cheating rackets. According to the NTA, the platform-level restriction comes under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Alongside the temporary block, MeitY directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India for messages already posted, a rule that remains in force until 30 June 2026. The NTA stated that cheating networks actively used these platform features to defraud candidates appearing for the re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026. "The direction requiring Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India through 30 June 2026 addresses a separate but related concern," the NTA stated. "The directions, issued on recommendations of NTA, are calibrated and bounded in time," the testing agency stated. "Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026," the NTA added. Prior to this platform-wide action, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs worked as the nodal agency to take down numerous fraudulent channels, groups, and bots. Law enforcement agencies from Bihar, Gujarat, and Rajasthan provided continuous inputs to target channels operating under names like "PAPER LEAKED NEET" and "Private Mafia," which demanded thousands to lakhs of rupees from families. The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch recently arrested an inter-State gang running eight such channels, tracing transactions worth Rs 1.5 crore. The testing agency clarified that the temporary platform restrictions became a measure of last resort after channel-by-channel takedowns failed to yield the necessary platform-level compliance. This capability has been used, in respect of multiple recent examinations, to fabricate after-the-event 'paper leak' artefacts: a channel administrator edits an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted, and the resulting chat is then circulated as purported 'evidence' that the paper was in circulation before the examination," the agency further explained. The NTA acknowledged the inconvenience caused to lakhs of regular citizens who use Telegram for legitimate personal and professional communication. However, it reiterated that the examination security remains completely unaffected and that no question paper is available outside the secured chain. The NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination will proceed as scheduled on 21 June 2026. (ANI)
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