Terms of Use

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and KuhuChat, India. They apply when you use the KuhuChat app, the web app or the kuhuchat.com website (together, the “Service”). They also serve as the rules and regulations and user agreement that we publish under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended (the “IT Rules”).

Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. This is an electronic record and a valid agreement under Indian law, and it does not need to be signed. If you do not agree, please do not use KuhuChat.

“KuhuChat”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean the KuhuChat team. “You” means the person using the Service. “Samaj” means the community groups and networks inside the app. “User Content” means anything users create, upload, post, send or share on the Service.

1. Who can use KuhuChat

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract under Indian law.
• You must not be barred from using the Service by any law.
• If you use KuhuChat for a business, you confirm that you have the authority to do so and that you accept these Terms for the business.
• If we have closed your account for breaking these Terms, you may not create a new one without our written permission.

2. Your account

• You sign in with your phone number and a one-time code. Give us true, current information, and use your own name and photo.
• Do not pretend to be someone else, and do not create accounts for other people without their permission.
• Keep your phone and codes private. You are responsible for all activity on your account. Tell us at once if you think someone else has used it.
• You may have only one personal account unless we allow otherwise.
• You can delete your account at any time from the app or by following our delete account page.

3. Our role as an intermediary

KuhuChat is an “intermediary” under Section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. We provide a platform where users store, share and host their own information. In particular:

• User Content is created, posted and shared by users. We do not start the transmission of User Content, we do not choose who receives it (the sender does), and we do not select or change User Content, apart from technical processing needed to run the Service, such as compressing, resizing or encrypting it.
• We do not pre-approve User Content, and we do not verify every profile, post, listing or user. We do not endorse, and are not responsible for, User Content or what users do.
• We observe the due diligence that the law requires of intermediaries. Removing or restricting content in good faith, or stopping access to it, under these Terms or the law is not an admission that we are liable for it, and does not make us the publisher of User Content.
• We are entitled to the protection that the law gives to intermediaries, including under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to the fullest extent permitted.

4. Rules of conduct

You agree not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share anything on the Service, and not to do anything on the Service, that:

• belongs to another person and which you do not have the right to share;
• is illegal, or breaks any law for the time being in force;
• is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, or invasive of another’s privacy, including bodily privacy, or shows nudity or sexual content;
• is insulting, harassing, threatening, bullying or abusive, or promotes hatred or violence against any person or group, including on grounds of religion, caste, community, gender, region or language;
• is defamatory, libellous, or racially or ethnically objectionable;
• relates to or encourages money laundering or gambling;
• is harmful to a child, or involves a person under 18 in any harmful or inappropriate way;
• infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right;
• deceives or misleads others about where a message comes from, or is patently false, untrue or misleading information, or is shared with the intent to mislead or harass, including fake news, fake profiles, fake marriage profiles, fake businesses, fake reviews, scams and impersonation;
• impersonates another person or entity;
• threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or causes or incites the commission of any offence, or prevents the investigation of any offence, or insults any other nation;
• contains software viruses or any code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the working of any computer resource;
• sends spam, chain messages, unwanted promotions or bulk messages;
• tries to hack, overload, scrape, copy, reverse engineer or break the Service or its security, or collects other users’ data without their permission, or uses it for anything other than the purpose it was shared for;
• sells or promotes illegal goods or services, or anything prohibited by law;
• uses the marriage, family or community features for dowry demands, fraud, blackmail, or to pressure or harm any person;
• is otherwise unlawful, or unsuitable for a community app, in our reasonable opinion.

We will remind you of these rules at least once every year. Breaking these rules can lead to removal of content, suspension or closure of your account, and reporting to the authorities.

5. Your content

You own it, and you are responsible for it

You keep ownership of the User Content you create, such as messages, photos, videos, voice notes, documents, posts and diary entries (“Your Content”). You alone are responsible for Your Content and for what you share with others. You promise that you have all the rights and permissions needed to post it, that it does not break these Terms or any law, and that it does not breach the rights or privacy of anyone else.

Permission you give us

To run the Service, you give KuhuChat a free, non-exclusive, worldwide, transferable and sub-licensable licence to store, host, process, display, reproduce, adapt, resize, translate, encrypt, analyse and deliver Your Content, and to share it with the people and groups you choose and with our service providers, for operating, securing, protecting, supporting and improving the Service, and for the other purposes in our Privacy Policy. This licence lasts for as long as Your Content stays on the Service, and for a reasonable time afterwards for backups, legal and safety reasons. We do not sell Your Content.

You also allow us to use anonymised and aggregated information derived from the Service, which does not identify you.

Other people’s content

Other users’ content belongs to them. We do not check it before it is posted, and we do not endorse it. Other users may save, copy or forward what you share, and we cannot control that.

6. AI-generated and synthetic content

• Do not create, upload or share AI-generated, altered or edited content (“synthetic content”) that looks real and is meant to deceive, impersonate, defame, harass or harm anyone, including deepfakes of real people, or fake sexual or intimate images.
• If you share synthetic content that could be taken for real, you must clearly label it, and you must not remove any label or identifier that the Service or the law requires.
• We may label, mark, restrict, verify or remove content that we believe is synthetic or deceptive, and we may ask you to declare whether content is synthetic.

7. Marriage and family features

• Marriage profiles, family trees and similar features help members of a community connect. Profiles are created by users, and we do not check every detail.
• We do not guarantee that any profile is true, complete or current, and we do not promise, arrange or guarantee any match, marriage, relationship or outcome.
• Any meeting, talks, agreement or marriage between users is entirely their own decision and responsibility. Please verify identity, family and background yourself, take sensible safety steps, and involve your family. KuhuChat is not a matrimonial agency and is not a party to any arrangement between users.
• Do not put false information in a profile, and do not use it for fraud, pressure or harassment.
• Marriage profiles can include sensitive details, and other samaj members can see them. You choose what to add. See our Privacy Policy.

8. Business Hub and marketplace

• If you register a business, you promise that the details and credentials you give (such as UDYAM, GST and PAN) are true and belong to you or your business, and that you may use them. We may check them through a verification provider.
• The Business Hub is a platform that lets businesses show their products and services and lets users find them. Sellers and service providers are independent from KuhuChat. KuhuChat is not a party to any sale, contract or service between a business and a customer, does not own or control the goods or services, and does not guarantee their quality, safety, price, delivery, legality or availability.
• If you list a business, you are responsible for your products, services, prices, offers, photos, videos and any dealings with customers, including taxes, licences, and consumer and product laws, and for the accuracy of your listing, your seller details, and any refunds, returns or complaints that the law requires you to handle.
• Some listings come from public sources and may be out of date. If you own a listed business and want it corrected or removed, email us.
• A “verified” label means we completed our checks on the details given. It is not a guarantee, certificate or endorsement of the business.

9. Hotel bookings, payments and fees

• Hotel bookings are made through a third-party booking and payment provider. The hotel and that provider are responsible for the booking, the room, the price, cancellations and refunds. Their terms apply to your booking.
• Check the booking details before you pay. Raise any dispute about a stay or a refund with the hotel or provider first. You can also email us and we will try to help, but we are not responsible for the hotel or the provider.
• KuhuChat does not store your card numbers.
• The Service is currently free to use. We may introduce paid features, fees or commission in future. We will show the price and terms before you pay, and paid features are covered by the terms shown at that time.

10. AI features

AI features, such as relationship analysis, diary analysis, the voice companion and text to speech, create results automatically using AI services. These results can be wrong, incomplete, offensive or unsuitable. They are for general information and entertainment only. They are not medical, psychological, legal, financial, relationship or other professional advice, and you must not rely on them for important decisions. The voice companion is not a person and is not a counsellor or therapist. In an emergency, contact the emergency services or a qualified professional. Only use AI features on content you have the right to use and that you are comfortable processing this way. You are responsible for how you use the results and for anything you share from them.

11. Automatic deletion

Chat messages are deleted automatically after about one month, and wall posts after about 15 days. Other content may also be removed under our retention practices. KuhuChat is not a backup service. Please keep your own copy of anything important. We are not responsible for loss of content that is deleted automatically, deleted by you, removed under these Terms, or lost due to technical problems.

12. Reports, removal and cooperation with authorities

• You can report content or users inside the app or by email to the grievance officer.
• When we receive actual knowledge of unlawful content, through a court order or a notice from the appropriate government or its authorised agency, or through a valid complaint, we will remove or disable access to it within the time the law requires. For certain complaints, such as content showing private areas, nudity or sexual acts, or impersonation, including morphed or synthetic images, the law requires us to act very quickly.
• We may also remove or restrict content, limit features, or suspend or close accounts, at our discretion, with or without notice, if we believe you have broken these Terms or the law, put others at risk, or if we are required to do so by law or by an order of a court or authority.
• If we remove content or close your account, we will usually tell you why, unless the law or safety reasons prevent us.
• We may preserve removed content and related records for at least 180 days, or longer if the law requires, and we may share information with law enforcement and government authorities as the law requires, including providing information or help for verification of identity, or for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of offences. See our Privacy Policy.
• We are not required to restore content, and we are not liable to you or anyone else for removing, restricting or not removing content.

13. Suspension and termination

• You may stop using KuhuChat and delete your account at any time.
• We may suspend, restrict or end your access to all or part of the Service, with or without notice, if you break these Terms or the law, if we reasonably believe your use is harmful, fraudulent or risky, if we are required to by law, or if we stop providing the Service.
• When your account ends, your right to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should continue, such as Your Content licence for backups and legal purposes, ownership, disclaimers, limit of liability, your responsibility to us, governing law and disputes, continue to apply.

14. Our rights

The KuhuChat name, logo, bird icon, app design, software, text and other materials belong to KuhuChat or our licensors and are protected by law. We give you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to use the Service as allowed by these Terms. You may not copy, sell, rent, modify, reverse engineer, scrape or build a competing service from the Service, or use our name or logo, without our written permission.

If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them freely without paying you or crediting you.

If you think something on KuhuChat infringes your copyright or other rights, email the grievance officer with details of the work, where it appears on KuhuChat, proof that you own the right, and your contact details, and we will review it.

15. Third-party services

The Service relies on and may link to services run by others, such as Google (including maps, sign-in, notifications and AI), Cloudinary, Cloudflare, SMS, verification and payment providers, and hotels. They are separate from us and have their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for their services, content, availability or actions. Your use of them is at your own risk.

16. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not promise that it will always work, be error-free, be secure, or be available without interruption, or that content will not be lost. We give no warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including about suitability for a purpose, accuracy or non-infringement.
• KuhuChat is an online platform. We do not control, check or take responsibility for what users say, post or do, or for their profiles, businesses, offers or behaviour, online or offline.
• We do not promise that any information on the Service, including profiles, business details, listings, maps, locations, prices and AI results, is accurate, complete or reliable.
• Messages are encrypted on our servers but are not end-to-end encrypted, as explained in our Privacy Policy. No system is completely secure.
• Location and map features may be inaccurate. Do not rely on them in an emergency, and do not rely on reminders or alerts for anything critical.
• Using the Service does not create any relationship of agency, partnership, employment or advice between you and KuhuChat.

17. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• KuhuChat, and its team members, owners, service providers and affiliates, are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, income, business, data, goodwill or opportunity, arising from or connected with your use of the Service, even if we were told it could happen.
• We are not liable for what users or third parties do or post, for any dealings between users, businesses, hotels or families, or for any loss, harm, dispute or outcome arising from them.
• We are not liable for any delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as power or internet failure, failure of third-party services, cyber attacks, natural disasters, government action or changes in law.
• Our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Service will not be more than the amount you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim, or ₹1,000 if you paid us nothing.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Indian law, including liability for fraud, or any rights you have as a consumer that cannot be waived.

18. Your responsibility to us

If you break these Terms or the law, or Your Content or your use of the Service harms someone or breaks someone’s rights, you agree to defend and compensate KuhuChat and its team members, owners, service providers and affiliates for any claim, loss, penalty, cost or expense, including reasonable legal fees, that results from it, to the extent the law allows.

19. Grievance officer and appeals

If you have a complaint about content, an account, these Terms or how your data is handled, contact our grievance officer:

Grievance officer: Hiren
KuhuChat, India
Email: hiren@kuhuchat.com

• Please include your name, your registered phone number, a clear description of your complaint, and links or screenshots of the content or account concerned.
• We will acknowledge and resolve complaints within the time limits set by the IT Rules and other applicable law, as they apply from time to time. Complaints about content showing private areas, nudity, sexual acts or impersonation (including morphed or synthetic images) are handled on the shortest timeline the law sets.
• If you are not satisfied with the grievance officer’s decision, you may appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee as provided under the IT Rules, within the time the rules allow. For complaints about personal data, you may also approach the Data Protection Board of India as provided in the DPDP Act, after you have given us a chance to resolve the complaint.
• The grievance officer also receives and acknowledges orders, notices and directions from courts and government authorities.

20. Changes and ending the Service

• We may change these Terms from time to time, for example when we add features or when the law changes. We will update the date at the top, and tell you in the app or by another suitable method if the change is significant. If you keep using the Service after a change, you accept the new Terms. If you do not agree, stop using it and delete your account.
• We may add, change or remove features, or pause or stop the Service, in whole or in part, at any time. We will try to give you notice where we can.

21. Governing law and disputes

• Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of India.
• Talk first. If you have a dispute with us, write to the grievance officer first and give us 30 days to try to resolve it.
• Arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved, it will be settled by arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, by a sole arbitrator agreed by both sides or, if you cannot agree, appointed as that Act provides. The seat and venue of arbitration will be the city in India where KuhuChat has its principal place of business, and the language will be English. The decision will be final and binding.
• Courts. Subject to the above, the courts at that place have exclusive jurisdiction over any matter that goes to court, such as urgent relief or enforcing an award.
• Your consumer rights. Nothing in this section takes away any right you have under consumer protection law, including the right to approach a consumer commission, or any right under data protection law, that cannot be waived.
• Claims must be brought in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or member in any group or representative proceeding, to the extent the law allows.

22. General

• These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and KuhuChat about the Service.
• If any part of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that part will be limited or removed to the minimum extent needed, and the rest stays in force.
• If we do not enforce a part of these Terms straight away, it does not mean we give up that right.
• You may not transfer your rights or duties under these Terms to anyone else. We may transfer ours as part of a merger, sale or reorganisation, or to a successor entity.
• We may give you notices by email, in the app, or by posting them on the Service. A notice is treated as received when we send or post it.
• Nobody except you and KuhuChat has any right under these Terms, apart from the people we have named in the sections on liability and your responsibility to us.
• These Terms are written in English. If we provide a translation, the English version applies if there is a difference.

23. Contact

KuhuChat, India
Email: hiren@kuhuchat.com