Terms & Conditions

A Terms & Conditions (Terms of Service / Terms of Use) document serves as a legally binding contract between Ground Truth India Media Network ([https://groundtruthindia.net/](https://groundtruthindia.net/)) and anyone accessing your website.
While the Disclaimer protects you against liability for reporting errors and advertiser claims, the Terms & Conditions govern user conduct, site access rules, intellectual property ownership, automated data scraping bans, account/comment termination, and statutory digital compliance under Indian law.
Here is the complete, ready-to-publish Terms & Conditions document tailored for your portal.

Terms & Conditions of Use

Effective Date: October 14, 2026
Entity: Ground Truth India Media Network
Operational Base: Haldwani, Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing, browsing, reading, or otherwise using Ground Truth India Media Network (the “Website”, “Portal”, “we”, “our”, or “us”), you (“User”, “Visitor”, or “Reader”) agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”), our [Privacy Policy], and our [Disclaimer & Grievance Policy].
If you do not agree to these Terms in full, you must immediately discontinue your access to and use of this Website.

2. Eligibility & Geographical Scope

This Website is intended for users who are legally competent to enter into binding contracts under the Indian Contract Act, 1872. If you are accessing this portal on behalf of an institution, corporate entity, or society, you represent and warrant that you hold the legal authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

3. Intellectual Property Rights & Fair Dealing

  • Proprietary Rights: Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all editorial content, investigative reports, articles, headlines, graphics, logos, marks, layout structures, audio clips, video broadcasts, and original source files appearing on [https://groundtruthindia.net/](https://groundtruthindia.net/) are the proprietary intellectual property of Ground Truth India Media Network, protected under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and international copyright conventions.
  • Limited Personal License: We grant users a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access, read, and share article links strictly for non-commercial, personal, or educational reference.
  • Prohibited Acts: You may not copy, reproduce, republish, syndicate, sell, distribute, or broadcast our proprietary articles or media without prior written consent from the Editor/Publisher.
  • Fair Dealing Credit: Brief quotations or excerpts may be cited for critique, academic discourse, or news reporting provided that clear, unambiguous attribution is given to Ground Truth India Media Network accompanied by a direct working hyperlink back to the original article URL on [https://groundtruthindia.net/](https://groundtruthindia.net/).

4. Restrictions on Scraping, Automated Access & System Integrity

Users agree that they shall NOT, directly or indirectly:
  • Use any web crawler, bot, spider, scraper, deep-link, extraction tool, or automated methodology to index, scrape, harvest, or bulk-download articles, metadata, or media assets from this portal.
  • Circumvent, disable, or tamper with security features, anti-bot mechanisms, or server configurations of [https://groundtruthindia.net/](https://groundtruthindia.net/).
  • Deploy denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, upload malicious software/scripts, or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our hosting infrastructure.

5. Reader Contributions, Comments & User Conduct

Where the portal enables comment sections, open letters, discussion forums, or reader tips:
  1. Content Standards: You agree not to post, submit, or transmit any material that:
    • Is defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, or invasive of another person’s bodily privacy.
    • Promotes hate speech, communal disharmony, caste discrimination, or incites violence.
    • Infringes upon any patent, trademark, copyright, or trade secret of any third party.
    • Threatens the unity, integrity, defense, security, or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order.
    • Violates the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, or any applicable Indian law.
  2. Editorial Rights to Moderate: Ground Truth India Media Network reserves the absolute, unilateral right to review, edit, reject, hide, or permanently remove any comment or reader submission without notice or explanation.
  3. License to Submitted Comments: By submitting comments or tips, you grant Ground Truth India Media Network a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide right to display, syndicate, archive, or quote your public submission across our digital channels.

6. Third-Party Links & External Embeds

Our articles may contain hyperlinks or embedded elements (such as social media embeds, official circulars, or references to government portals) managed by third parties.
  • Ground Truth India Media Network has no control over the privacy policies, terms, or operational integrity of third-party platforms.
  • Inclusion of an external link does not constitute an official endorsement of that site or its sponsors. Accessing third-party links is done entirely at your own risk.

7. Advertisements & Commercial Transactions

  • Third-party display networks, banners, native advertisements, or sponsor notices on the portal are supplied by independent advertisers.
  • Ground Truth India Media Network assumes no responsibility for commercial transactions, financial commitments, or service quality resulting from advertiser links. All interactions are strictly between you and the respective advertiser.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties & Limitation of Liability

  • “As-Is” Provision: The services and materials on [https://groundtruthindia.net/](https://groundtruthindia.net/) are provided strictly on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied.
  • Exclusion of Liability: To the maximum extent permissible under Indian law, Ground Truth India Media Network, its Editor, staff, correspondents, and technical administrators shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages resulting from:
    • Reliance placed on any reporting, editorial analysis, or public data published.
    • Temporary site downtime, technical interruptions, server errors, or cyber attacks.
    • Actions taken by statutory authorities or third parties in connection with news developments.

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ground Truth India Media Network, its Editor, contributors, and technical partners against any claims, losses, damages, liabilities, costs, and legal expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:
  • Your violation of these Terms.
  • Your submission of unlawful, infringing, or defamatory reader comments.
  • Your unauthorized commercial exploitation or scraping of portal assets.

10. Modifications & Amendments

We reserve the right to amend, update, or revise these Terms and Conditions at our sole discretion to reflect changes in our operational model or statutory obligations under Indian media and cyber laws. Continued use of the portal after such modifications constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms.

11. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

  • Governing Law: These Terms shall be interpreted, governed, and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India.
  • Exclusive Jurisdiction: Any legal dispute, petition, or claim arising out of or related to these Terms, site access, or published content shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts situated in Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India.

12. Contact & Grievance Information

For any legal inquiries, copyright notices, or content-related complaints under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, please reach out to our designated desk:
  • Entity: Ground Truth India Media Network
  • Office Location: Haldwani, Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India
  • Official Contact Phone: +91 7997110444
  • Official Email: haldwani.dcp@gmail.com