Messaging platform Telegram on Wednesday challenged before the Delhi High Court the Union government’s decision to ban it in India till the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is held, Bar and Bench reported.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology restricted access to Telegram till June 22, a day after the re-examination of the entrance test for medical college admissions concludes.

The ministry also directed the platform, under the Information Technology Rules, to disable its message-editing feature till June 30. The National Testing Agency, which conducts the exam, alleged that the feature was used “to fabricate after-the-event ‘paper leak’ evidence”.

The exam was conducted on May 3, but was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak.

The court agreed to hear the matter. The counsel for the platform told the bench that more than 150 million users have been affected by the blocking order, Live Law reported.

Telegram argued that the Union government had singled the platform, violating Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees the right to equality.

The government’s decision is based on an “impermissible premise that misuse by a subset of users justifies blocking of an entire platform”, the company contended.

“Such an approach, if upheld, would enable indiscriminate suspension of digital platforms, severely undermining constitutional protections of free speech and access to...

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