The fine print, plainly

Terms of use

Version 2.1 · updated 2026-08-30

1. Who we are and what this is

"Assam Blood Donor" ("ABD", "we", "us", "the platform") is a free, nonprofit, volunteer-run initiative operating the website assamblooddonor.org, its app, chat, notifications and related services. Until its Section 8 company registration completes, the platform is operated by its founder, Madhurjya Sarmah ("the Operator"), and references to ABD include the Operator and any successor entity. The platform is an information and coordination service: it lists voluntary donors, relays blood requests, and helps requesters and donors find each other. That is all it is.

2. What we are NOT, read this twice

1. Not a blood bank or blood centre. We do not collect, test, process, store, issue, sell, distribute or transport blood or blood components, and we hold no licence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 because none is needed or held for what we do.
2. Not a hospital, clinic, ambulance or emergency service. We are not a substitute for 108, 104, the hospital blood centre, or a doctor. In an emergency, call official emergency services first.
3. Not a medical or telemedicine service. No doctor-patient relationship is created by anything on this platform. Our eligibility and health content is general education, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment (see our medical disclaimer).
4. Not an agent, partner or employer of any donor, requester, blood centre, hospital or volunteer. Donors act entirely on their own as private citizens. Nothing here creates an agency, partnership, joint venture, employment or bailment.
5. Not a paid service. The platform is free. We charge nothing, we pay nobody, and no fee ever changes hands through us.

3. The zero-money rule

Paid blood donation is illegal in India, banned by the Supreme Court (Common Cause v. Union of India, 1996) with effect from 1 January 1998, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules forbid licensed centres from collecting blood from paid donors. Therefore: no user may offer, demand, solicit, request, pay or accept any money, fee, advance, "conveyance", gift of value, or other consideration in connection with any donation arranged or discussed through this platform. Donors may accept only what the law allows a voluntary donor: small refreshments or reimbursement of direct travel costs, never cash. Requesters must never transfer money before meeting a donor at a licensed centre, anyone asking for money first is a scammer. Violation = immediate ban, blacklist, and where appropriate a report to police or the cybercrime portal (1930 / cybercrime.gov.in).

4. Donations happen at licensed centres, and the centre decides

Every donation arranged through the platform must take place at a blood centre licensed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, against the hospital's requisition. The final decision on whether a donor is eligible on the day, haemoglobin, weight, health history, deferrals, anything, belongs exclusively to the medical staff at that centre. Our eligibility pages, quizzes and reminders are educational aids, not medical clearances. A matched donor being deferred at the centre is normal and is nobody's failure. We do not screen blood, we do not guarantee any donor's suitability, and we direct all donations only to licensed centres.

5. No promise of donors, matches or outcomes, a connection-only service, in good faith

ABD is a connection-only service, provided in good faith. We are not a blood bank, blood marketplace, or medical service. We do not store, test, handle, buy, sell, or charge for blood. We do not participate in any donation, the donation happens solely between the donor and the requester at a licensed blood centre. The platform (including the donor directory and direct contact features) merely introduces people. Users are solely responsible for their own conduct and for verifying whom they deal with; ABD is not responsible for any malpractice, misrepresentation, or harm arising from interactions between users, however facilitated. Where the platform lets a seeker contact a donor directly (directory, chat, WhatsApp links), both parties accept this paragraph as the basis of that contact.

We match requests with compatible, consenting, fresh donors on a best-effort basis. We cannot and do not promise or guarantee: that any donor will be found, alerted, respond, accept, or appear; that a request will be fulfilled in time or at all; that any blood unit will be issued, compatible, safe or successful; or any medical outcome whatsoever. The platform is one channel among many, keep the hospital blood centre, e-RaktKosh stock and your own networks running in parallel. This paragraph is not fine print; it is the single most important thing to understand about the service.

6. Your account: truth, one identity, 18+

Donors must be at least 18 years old (blood donation law allows 18,65) and must register with their own true identity, a phone number they control, and honest group/district details. One person, one registration. Requesters must submit only genuine requests for real patients, with details that match the hospital requisition. We verify by phone before donors are alerted; false requests, impersonation, borrowed identities or invented emergencies waste donor goodwill and cost lives downstream, they are prohibited, cause for immediate ban, and may be reported to authorities.

7. Prohibited conduct (the full list)

By using the platform you agree not to use it to do, attempt, plan or encourage any of the following:

1. Anything unlawful under Indian law, including anything relating to paid or professional blood donation, blood trading, organ trading, or the sale of blood bank cards.
2. Asking for, offering or moving money (or anything of value) in connection with a donation, anywhere on the platform, including chat.
3. Submitting false, inflated or duplicate requests; using the request form to harvest donor contact details, or contacting donors outside a matched request.
4. Impersonating any person, hospital, blood centre, government body, or ABD staff. ABD staff will never call you before you submit a request and will never ask for payment.
5. Content that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, hateful, invasive of privacy (including bodily privacy), harmful to children, or that deceives or misleads about the origin of a message.
6. Infringing anyone's patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights, including our content (see §13).
7. Threatening public order, sovereignty or integrity of India, or inciting any cognisable offence.
8. Uploading viruses or harmful code, scraping, bulk automated access, or interfering with the platform's operation or security testing without written permission.
9. Sharing another person's personal data (phone numbers, health details, addresses) without their consent.
10. Contacting donors for any purpose other than the matched request: marketing, politics, fundraising, romance, or anything else.

This list mirrors and supplements the prohibited categories under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended. Violations lead to removal of content, suspension or termination of access, blacklisting of phone numbers, and preservation of records for authorities, without notice where we judge it necessary.

8. Chat, messages and moderation, consent to be watched

The platform offers a chat between a requester and a donor who accepted their request. You accept and agree that:

1. The chat exists for one reason: coordinating the donation (timing, meeting at the centre, logistics). Use it for that.
2. Messages are automatically scanned for scam patterns (payment talk, money rails, phone numbers, links) and flagged; coordinators can review any thread; everything is stored (see retention below). You have no expectation of privacy from ABD's moderation, this is deliberate, it is the anti-scam design. Do not share medical records, IDs, passwords or payment details in chat.
3. Contact numbers become visible to the other side only after a donor accepts a verified request. Handle them with care: no calls outside the request, no forwarding, no adding to groups.
4. Messages containing money/payment references are delivered but flagged and may be reviewed. Flagged or reported messages may be preserved as evidence and shared with police on lawful request.
5. Retention: chat logs are kept for up to 90 days after a request closes, then deleted, unless needed for an investigation, a legal order, or safety (in which case we keep what the law requires or permits).
6. Every message carries a report button (⚑). Use it. We act on reports, warn, ban, blacklist, and where needed report to authorities.

9. Verification is best-effort, not a guarantee

Our verification (phone OTP, coordinator calls, proof review, donation history, the verification ladder) is honest best-effort diligence, not a certification of anyone's identity, health, intentions or behaviour. We cannot guarantee that a "verified" donor or requester is who they claim to be or will act safely. Meet only at licensed blood centres, in daylight where possible, with a family member present if you prefer. See our scam-safety guidance. You remain responsible for your own safety when you meet anyone through this platform.

10. Assumption of risk, yours

Using this platform involves meeting and dealing with strangers in medical emergencies, and relying on information given by third parties (donors, requesters, hospitals, centres). You freely and knowingly assume all risks of using the platform, including without limitation: risks of meeting unknown persons; risks arising from inaccurate information submitted by users; risks of donor deferral or non-appearance; risks relating to transfusion and medical treatment, which are entirely matters for hospitals and licensed centres; and risks of service interruption. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for anything Indian law does not permit us to exclude, but Indian law permits us to say this: the platform is provided as a goodwill, best-effort community service, and you use it at your sole risk.

11. No warranties

The platform and everything on it is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, uninterrupted availability, error-freeness, or non-infringement, to the maximum extent permitted by law. We do not warrant that alerts (push, SMS, email) will arrive, that the site will be up at any moment, or that data will never be lost. Time-critical needs must always go through official channels in parallel.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law: (a) ABD, the Operator, volunteers and contributors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of life, health, income, data, goodwill or opportunity arising from use of, or inability to use, the platform; (b) our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the platform shall not exceed the amount you paid us for the service giving rise to the claim, which is zero, because the platform is free; (c) nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by wilful misconduct or fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under Indian law. This clause survives termination.

13. Indemnity, you cover your own mess

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ABD, the Operator, volunteers and contributors from and against any claims, demands, losses, damages, costs (including reasonable legal fees) and expenses arising out of or relating to: (a) your breach of these terms; (b) your unlawful or prohibited conduct (see §7); (c) any request you submit, donation you make, or meeting you attend; and (d) any content or information you submit to the platform. This clause survives termination.

14. Content and intellectual property

The platform's text, design, code, articles, lists and branding are owned by ABD/the Operator and protected by law. You may read, share links to, and quote small excerpts of our public content with attribution. You may not copy, scrape, republish, mirror or commercially exploit the platform or its data, or use our name/logo without written permission. Your submissions (request details, chat messages) remain yours, but you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, transmit, moderate, back up and display them for operating and protecting the platform, and to preserve or disclose them as required by law. If you believe content infringes your rights, contact us through the grievance channel below.

15. Third parties, links and processors

The platform links to and displays data from third parties (e-RaktKosh, ASBTC, hospitals, blood centres, Google Maps). That information belongs to them, may be stale or wrong, and we provide it as a convenience without endorsement or warranty. Donations and treatments are between you and the licensed centre. We use service providers (hosting, database, SMS and notification providers) as data processors under contract; they process data only on our instructions and are bound to equivalent security obligations. We are not responsible for third-party services, apps or websites you reach through us.

16. Availability, suspension and termination

We run this as volunteers on a free infrastructure. There is no uptime guarantee. We may suspend, modify or discontinue any part of the platform (including chat, notifications or the whole service) at any time, for any reason, including maintenance, safety, security, legal compliance or resource limits. We may terminate or suspend your access immediately if you breach these terms, and we may blacklist your phone number so you cannot re-register. You may stop using the platform at any time; donors can pause, withdraw consent, or delete their account from the dashboard. Sections 5, 9,13, 17,20 survive any termination.

17. Data, privacy and your DPDP rights

We process personal data (phone numbers, names, blood group, district, chat content) only for the purposes stated at collection, on the basis of your consent, which you can withdraw as easily as you gave it. Our privacy policy is part of these terms and explains what we collect and why. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you have rights to access, correct, complete, update and erase your data, to nominate someone to act for you, and to escalate to the Data Protection Board of India after using our grievance channel. We keep personal data only as long as the purpose or the law requires, we encrypt phone numbers, and we publish no donor numbers anywhere.

18. Grievances and law-enforcement cooperation

Grievance Officer: Madhurjya Sarmah, via the contact page or the helpline listed on every page. We aim to acknowledge grievances within 3 working days and resolve them within the timelines the law prescribes. If you are not satisfied, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India (for data grievances) or the courts having jurisdiction. We also cooperate with police and lawful government requests: on written order from an authorised agency we provide information and assistance as required by law within the timelines the IT Rules prescribe, and we preserve records of removed content for 180 days for investigations.

19. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the platform evolves (for example, on Section 8 registration, new features, or legal changes). Material changes are announced on this page with a new version number and date, and major changes are also surfaced on the site. Continuing to use the platform after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms; if you do not accept them, stop using the platform and (if a donor) withdraw consent or delete your account. The current version is always at this URL.

20. The legal backbone

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Subject to mandatory law, the courts at Dibrugarh, Assam shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to the platform. If any provision of these terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the rest remain in force, and the invalid provision is replaced by a valid one closest to its original intent. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it. These terms, together with the privacy, donor-consent, medical-disclaimer and emergency-disclaimer policies linked from this page, form the entire agreement between you and the platform regarding its use, superseding anything else said, written or implied. Nothing here affects rights you have as a consumer that cannot be contracted away.

Plain-language summary: we connect people, we don't practise medicine, we don't touch blood or money, we can't promise donors, we watch chat to keep you safe from scams, your data is yours and minimal, and if you use the platform to do something wrong, that's on you, not on us or our volunteers.