Terms & Conditions

• “Account” — the registered profile you create to submit reports, vote, and comment.
• “Content” — any text, evidence link, image, or other material you submit to the Service.
• “Report” — a consumer complaint submitted via the submission form, describing an alleged rip-off by a brand.
• “Pattern” — an automated signal triggered when five or more independent reports match the same brand AND rip-off type.
• “Brand” — any corporation, partnership, or entity named in a report.
• “DPDP Act” — India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
• “IT Act” — India's Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules.

GhatGaya is a public, community-sourced database of consumer-brand complaints operating in India. It is a record, not a legal forum.

GhatGaya is not:

• A substitute for consumer court, National Consumer Helpline, or any regulator (TRAI, RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, etc.).
• A mediator between you and the brand.
• A legal professional or counsel. Nothing on the Service is legal advice.
• A news publisher, though journalists may quote our public records with attribution.

By clicking “Sign up”, checking a consent box, submitting any content, or otherwise using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy. These constitute a binding electronic agreement under Section 10A of the IT Act.

• You must be at least 18 years of age and competent to contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
• You must submit truthful accounts of experiences you actually had, witnessed directly, or which affect a close family member whom you are authorised to represent (e.g. hospital billing for a spouse).
• Businesses, PR agencies, reputation-management firms, marketing agencies, or any third party acting on behalf of a brand are prohibited from submitting reports, upvoting, downvoting, or commenting in a way that misrepresents public sentiment.
• You may not use the Service from a jurisdiction where its use is restricted or prohibited by local law.

• You agree to provide accurate information during registration and keep it current.
• You are responsible for all activity on your account. Choose a strong, unique password and do not share it.
• You agree to notify us immediately at security@ghatgaya.com of any unauthorised access or suspected breach.
• One human, one account. Sybil accounts or vote-ring networks will be suspended and their activity nullified.

You retain ownership of the content you submit. By submitting, you grant GhatGaya a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to host, store, reproduce, display, aggregate, archive, and distribute your content as part of the public record and related communications (press, research, API). This licence survives termination of your account, to the extent necessary to maintain the integrity of the public record.

You represent and warrant that:

• You own or have the right to submit the content, including any attached evidence.
• The content is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
• The content does not infringe any third-party intellectual-property or privacy rights.
• The content is not defamatory, threatening, obscene, discriminatory, or illegal.

• Every submission is reviewed by our moderation team before publication. Typical turnaround is 48–72 hours.
• We may reject submissions that are defamatory, illegal, obviously fabricated, outside the scope of consumer complaints, or too vague to be useful.
• If a published report is later found inaccurate or misleading, we mark it corrected — overlaid with a visible correction notice. We do not delete it. Silent deletion defeats the purpose of a permanent record.
• Verified brand responses, when provided in writing, are published next to the complaint with equal prominence.
• We may refuse or remove any content at our discretion for any lawful reason.

You agree you will not:

• Post content that is defamatory, threatening, abusive, harassing, obscene, hateful, or illegal.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Submit reports on behalf of a business without disclosure.
• Create multiple accounts to amplify a view, manipulate vote counts, or artificially trigger Pattern Detection.
• Use automated means (scrapers, bots, headless browsers) to access the Service without prior written consent.
• Attempt to bypass rate limits, authentication, security controls, or access data not publicly available.
• Upload malware, phishing links, or attempt to exploit vulnerabilities.
• Sell, licence, or resell data obtained from the Service without a written licensing agreement with us.
• Use the Service in a manner that would overload infrastructure or degrade experience for others.

• Be specific. “Flipkart is bad” is not a report. “Flipkart charged ₹299 convenience fee not shown at checkout on 04/Apr/2026” is.
• Stay on the consumer angle. We don't publish political, personal, or off-topic grievances.
• Attach evidence when you have it. A screenshot or receipt elevates your report from Community to Documented and carries more weight.
• Respect other commenters. Disagree with ideas, not people. Harassment leads to suspension.
• Don't dox. Never post another individual's personal data, phone number, or home address.

The “Pattern Detected” flag is triggered automatically when 5 or more independent reports reference the same Brand AND the same Rip-off Type, after moderation approval. The threshold, logic, and source code for this trigger are public.

Pattern Detected is not:

• A legal finding or admission.
• A regulatory or judicial ruling.
• An editorial accusation by GhatGaya.
• A statement about the aggregate truth of the underlying reports — merely a signal that enough people have reported the same issue to warrant further attention.

Readers should evaluate evidence tier (Documented vs Community), number of reports, brand response, and third- party reporting together.

Brands named in reports may respond in two ways:

1. Public response — sent to corrections@ghatgaya.com from a verifiable official email. Published alongside the relevant report or Pattern.
2. Correction request — if documentation shows a report is factually wrong. We mark the report corrected rather than delete it.

We do not offer brands the option to pay for report removal, delisting, or de-ranking, under any circumstances.

The GhatGaya name, logo, visual design, software, database schema, and compilation of the public record are owned by GhatGaya Labs Pvt. Ltd. and protected by Indian and international copyright, trademark, and database rights.

You may link to any public URL on the Service and quote short excerpts (up to 200 words per report) with attribution, for journalistic, academic, and commentary purposes. Bulk copying, scraping, or republication of the database requires a licence from us.

Reports may contain links to third-party sites (news articles, government notices, brand pages). We do not control these sites, do not endorse their content, and are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, or privacy practices. Access them at your own risk.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY PARTICULAR REPORT IS TRUE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, OR RELIABLE; THE READER MUST EVALUATE EACH REPORT ON ITS OWN MERITS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, GHATGAYA, ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM:

• Your use of or inability to use the Service;
• Any content or conduct of any third party on the Service;
• Unauthorised access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content;
• Any other matter relating to the Service.

Our total cumulative liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) INR 5,000 or (b) the amount you have paid us in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to liability.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless GhatGaya Labs Pvt. Ltd., its directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or connected to (a) your content, (b) your use of the Service, (c) your breach of these Terms, or (d) your violation of any third-party right.

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if:

• You materially breach these Terms;
• You engage in harassment, sybil voting, or spam;
• You repeatedly submit demonstrably false reports;
• We are required to do so by law or by valid legal process;
• We cease operation of the Service (in which case we will give reasonable notice to registered users).

You may close your account at any time from your profile page. Closing your account does not delete your already- published reports, but they will be anonymised.

We may add, remove, or modify features of the Service at any time, provided we do not substantially reduce the ability for the public to read existing reports. If a change requires destructive data migration, we will notify registered users by email at least 30 days in advance.

We may revise these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify registered users by email at least 30 days before the new version takes effect, and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

• Informal resolution first. Before filing a claim, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by emailing legal@ghatgaya.com. Most disputes are resolved this way.
• Arbitration. If informal resolution fails, disputes will be resolved by binding arbitration in Bengaluru, Karnataka, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The arbitration will be conducted in English by a sole arbitrator mutually appointed.
• Jurisdiction. Subject to arbitration, the courts at Bengaluru shall have exclusive jurisdiction.
• No class actions. Disputes must be brought in your individual capacity, not as plaintiff or class member in any class, consolidated, or representative action.

Per the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the IT Rules, 2021, our Grievance Officer is:

Grievance Officer
GhatGaya Labs Pvt. Ltd.
91Springboard, Koramangala 4th Block
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560095
Email: grievance@ghatgaya.com
Grievances will be acknowledged within 48 hours and resolved within 30 days.

• Entire agreement. These Terms, along with the Privacy Policy and any guidelines we publish, constitute the entire agreement between you and GhatGaya.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a right or provision is not a waiver of that right.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, to any successor.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and have no legal effect.
• Electronic communications. You consent to receive communications from us electronically.

General legal questions: legal@ghatgaya.com. Written notices may be sent to GhatGaya Labs Pvt. Ltd., 91Springboard, Koramangala 4th Block, Bengaluru 560095, India.