The Centre's decision to temporarily restrict Telegram ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination has been met with criticism from a Class 12 student who exposed irregularities in the CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
Sarthak Sidhant, who raised concerns about the CBSE's evaluation process, said the decision would affect many legitimate users of the platform.
He added that Telegram is widely used for secure communication, media consumption, and many businesses and technical projects use Telegram's API to create automated bots for customer service.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomed the Centre's decision to temporarily ban Telegram in India ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
The re-test is being conducted after the original NEET examination held in May was cancelled following question paper leak allegedly by insiders.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a probe into the examination scam.
