The Indian government banned the Telegram app till Monday and asked it to shut off its message editing service because of its heavy use by cheating syndicates in leaking NEET exam question papers and defrauding the candidates before the June 21 re-examination date of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test that was called off because of the leaks. The ban, imposed under a stringent information technology law clause dealing with sovereignty of the country, comes in the wake of nationwide protests by students after the test was called off. While there have been calls from free speech groups that the government's move is draconian, the Ministry of Education has justified the ban saying that it was the only measure left after all others to remove offensive material proved futile. Pavel Durov, creator of Telegram, has blasted the ban as an extreme measure that affects more than 150 million innocents in the country without stopping the leaks elsewhere.