The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked how the rights of 150 million Telegram users be curtailed because one set of people were appearing for an examination. The court's remarks came as it heard Telegram's plea against the government's decision to restrict the platform ahead of the NEET re-examination scheduled for June 21.The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday restricted access to Telegram in India till June 22, a day after the NEET re-exam. (HT_PRINT)“How can we stop the rights of 150 million people just because one set of citizens are appearing in examinations?,” a bench led by Justice Tejas Karia asked as counsels for both Telegram and the government of India presented their arguments.Appearing for the Government of India, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta argued that a large number of groups and channels were operating on Telegram and that the court may never have heard of channels functioning in such a manner on other platforms.The matter of Telegram's plea against the decision to restrict its access prior to the retest was heard by a vacation bench headed by Justice Tejas Karia. SG Mehta said that there were “shocking” activities that despite being communicated to the application, were not taken down. The app opposed the argument and said it acted proactively to take down the content, according to Bar and Bench. SG Mehta further said that Telegram operates through a cloud-based system, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify the actual users behind unlawful activities. Even if the platform blocks an account, investigators often face challenges in tracing the individual responsible, he said, according to Livelaw.