1) General

www.mentortogether.org (hereinafter, the “Website”)  is owned and operated by Mentor Together (“Trust”), a Trust registered under the Indian Trusts Act 1882, having its registered office at 530, 1st Floor, 24th Main, HSR Layout, Sector 2, Bangalore 560102, India.

You are advised to read and understand these Terms carefully as moving past the home page, or using any of the services shall be taken to mean that You have read and agreed to all of the policies, which constitute a legally binding agreement between You and the website. These terms are to be read along with the Privacy Policy and any other policies on the website.

This document is an electronic record published in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2021 that require publishing the Rules and Regulations, Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for access or usage of the website. Being generated by a computer system, it does not require any physical or digital signatures. This document is also in compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).

For the purpose of these Terms of Use, along with any amendments to the same, and wherever the context so requires “You”, “Your” or “User” refer to the person visiting, accessing, browsing through and/or using the Website at any point in time. The term “We”, “Us”, “Our” shall mean and refer to the website and/or the Trust, depending on the context.

The headings of each section in this Agreement are only for the purpose of organising the various provisions under this Agreement in an orderly manner. These headings shall not be used by either party to interpret the provisions contained under them in any manner. Further, the headings have no legal or contractual value.

We hold the sole right to modify the Terms of Service. If You continue to use the Website or avail any of its services without registration following such change, this is deemed as consent by You to the so amended policies. Your continued use of the Website is conditioned upon your compliance with the Terms of Service, including but not limited to compliance with the Terms of Service even after alterations, if any.

2) Trust Overview

Mentor Together is a Non-profit Organization based in Bangalore, India, registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The Organization was founded in November 2009. Mentor Together provides empowering one-on-one mentoring relationships which helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds break the inequality of opportunity (‘Services’).

3) Information collected:

The Website does not directly collect any information from You, but contains specific third-party plugins that collect the following types of information:

1. Flodesk: email IDs
2. Freshteams: including but not limited to first name, last name, curriculum vitae, location and motivation

• ICICI EasyPay Gateway: first name, last name, email ID, phone number, address and PAN number.

The Website does not own the above third-party plugins and the same are governed by their own Terms of Service, provided on their respective sites. It is Your sole responsibility to review the Terms of Service of the third-party plugins.

     4) License and Access

The Trust grants you a limited sub-license to access and make personal use of the Site, but not to download (other than page caching) or modify it, or any portion of it, except with express written consent of the Trust. Such limited sub-license does not include/permit any resale or commercial use of the Site or its contents; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of the Site or its contents; any downloading or copying of information for the benefit of another merchant; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. No portion of the Site may  be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of the Trust. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of the Website or of the Trust and/or its affiliates without the express written consent of the Trust. You may not use any meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing the Trust’s name or trademarks without the express written consent of the Trust.  You shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion or feature of the Site, or any other systems or networks connected to the Site or to any server, computer, network, or to any of the services offered on or through the Site, by hacking, ‘password mining’ or any other illegitimate means.

You hereby agree and undertake not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information which:

1. belongs to another person and to which you do not have any right;
2. is grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, pedophilic, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever;
3. harms minors in any way;
4. infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary/intellectual property rights;
5. violates any law for the time being in force;
6. deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of such messages
7. communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature;
8. impersonates another person;
9. contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
10. threatens the unity, integrity, defense, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation; or is misleading or known to be false in any way.

5) Compliance with DPDP Act

As per the DPDP Act, the following definitions are applicable to this Terms of Service:

1. “data” means a representation of information, facts, concepts, opinions or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing by human beings or by automated means;
2. “Data Fiduciary” means any person who alone or in conjunction with other persons determines the purpose and means of processing of personal data;
3. “Data Principal” means the individual to whom the personal data relates and where such individual is—
   1. a child, includes the parents or lawful guardian of such a child;
   2. a person with disability, includes her lawful guardian, acting on her behalf.

Accordingly, as a Data Principal under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data processed by us
• Request correction or erasure of your data
• Register a grievance with our Data Protection Officer
• Nominate another individual to exercise your rights in case of incapacity or death.

Currently, the DPDPA does not impose geographical limitations on cross-border data transfers unless specific countries are notified. We ensure that such transfers are made to jurisdictions with comparable data protection standards or contractual safeguards. Disclosures of information to Third Parties are further addressed in Our Privacy Policy.

6) User Obligations

You are a restricted user of this website.

1. You are bound not to cut, copy, distribute, modify, recreate, reverse engineer, distribute, disseminate, post, publish or create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information or software obtained from the website. With our prior permission limited use may be allowed. For the removal of doubt, it is clarified that unlimited or wholesale reproduction, copying of the content for commercial or non-commercial purposes and unwarranted modification of data and information within the content of the Website is not permitted.
2. You agree not to access (or attempt to access) the Website and/or the materials by any means other than through the interface that is provided by the website. The use of deep-link, robot, spider or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Website or Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Website, materials or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not specifically made available through the Website is prohibited. You acknowledge and agree that by accessing or using the Website, You may be exposed to content from other users that You may consider offensive, indecent or otherwise objectionable. We disclaim all liabilities arising in relation to such offensive content on the Website. Further, You may report such offensive content.
3. In places where this Website allows you to post or upload data/information, You undertake to ensure that such material is not offensive and in accordance with applicable laws. Further, You undertake not to:
   • Abuse, harass, threaten, defame, disillusion, erode, abrogate, demean or otherwise violate the legal rights of others;
   • Engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts access to the Website, or the servers and networks which are connected to the Website)
   • Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent Your affiliation with a person or entity;
   • Publish, post, disseminate, any information which is grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, pedophilic, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever; or unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing including but not limited to “indecent representation of women” within the meaning of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986;
   • Post any file that infringes the copyright, patent or trademark of other legal entities;
   • Upload or distribute files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of the Website or another’s computer;
   • Download any file posted by another user that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner;
   • Probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Website or any network connected to the Website, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the Website or any network connected to the Website. You may not reverse look-up, trace or seek to trace any information on any other user, of or visitor to, the Website, or any other customer of the website, including any website Account not owned by You, to its source, or exploit the Website or information made available or offered by or through the Website, in any way whether or not the purpose is to reveal any information, including but not limited to personal identification information, other than Your own information, as provided for by the Website;
   • Disrupt or interfere with the security of, or otherwise cause harm to, the Website, system resources, accounts, passwords, servers or networks connected to or accessible through the Website or any affiliated or linked sites;
   • Collect or store data about other users in connection with the prohibited conduct and activities set forth in this Section;
   • Use the Website or any material or Content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Service, or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of this website or other third parties;
   • Violate any code of conduct or other guidelines, which may be applicable;
   • Violate any applicable laws or regulations for the time being in force within or outside India;
   • Violate the Terms of Service including but not limited to any applicable Additional Terms of the Website contained herein or elsewhere;
   • Violate any code of conduct or other guidelines, which may be applicable;
   • Threaten the unity, integrity, defense, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or cause incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevent investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation;
   • Publish, post, disseminate information that is false, inaccurate or misleading; violate any applicable laws or regulations for the time being in force in or outside India;
   • Directly or indirectly, offer, attempt to offer, trade or attempt to trade in any item, the dealing of which is prohibited or restricted in any manner under the provisions of any applicable law, rule, regulation or guideline for the time being in force;
   • Create liability for Us or cause Us to lose (in whole or in part) the services of Our internet service provider (“ISPs”) or other suppliers.

You shall not engage in advertising to, or in solicitation of, other Users of the Website to buy or sell any services, including, but not limited to, services related to that being displayed on the Website or related to Us. You may not transmit any chain letters or unsolicited commercial or junk email to other Users via the Website. It shall be a violation of these Terms of Service to use any information obtained from the Website in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person, or in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to another person other than Us without Our prior explicit consent. We can (and You hereby expressly authorize Us to) disclose any information about You to law enforcement or other government officials, as we, in our sole discretion, believe it necessary or appropriate in connection with the investigation and/or resolution of possible crimes, especially those that may involve personal injury. In order to protect Our Users from such advertising or solicitation, We reserve the right to restrict the number of messages or emails which a user may send to other Users in any 24-hour period which We deem appropriate in our sole discretion. You understand that We have the right at all times to disclose any information (including the identity of the persons providing information or materials on the Website) as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or valid governmental request. This may include, without limitation, disclosure of the information in connection with investigation of alleged illegal activity or solicitation of illegal activity or in response to a lawful court order or subpoena.

We have no obligation to monitor the materials posted on the Website. We shall have the right to remove or edit any content that in its sole discretion violates, or is alleged to violate, any applicable law or either the spirit or letter of these Terms of Service. Notwithstanding this right, YOU REMAIN SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THE MATERIALS YOU POST ON THE WEBSITE AND IN YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES. In no event shall We assume or have any responsibility or liability for any Content posted or for any claims, damages or losses resulting from the use of Content and/or appearance of Content on the Website. You hereby represent and warrant that You have all necessary rights in and to all Content which You provide and all information it contains and that such Content shall not infringe any proprietary or other rights of third parties or contain any libelous, tortuous, or otherwise unlawful information.

7) Indemnification and Limitation of Liability

YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS THIS WEBSITE/TRUST INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ITS AFFILIATE VENDORS, AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL LOSSES, LIABILITIES, CLAIMS, DAMAGES, DEMANDS, COSTS AND EXPENSES (INCLUDING LEGAL FEES AND DISBURSEMENTS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH AND INTEREST CHARGEABLE THEREON) ASSERTED AGAINST OR INCURRED BY US THAT ARISE OUT OF, RESULT FROM, OR MAY BE PAYABLE BY VIRTUE OF, ANY BREACH OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, COVENANT OR AGREEMENT MADE OR OBLIGATION TO BE PERFORMED BY YOU PURSUANT TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. FURTHER, YOU AGREE TO HOLD US HARMLESS AGAINST ANY CLAIMS MADE BY ANY THIRD PARTY DUE TO, OR ARISING OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH, YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, ANY CLAIM THAT YOUR MATERIAL CAUSED DAMAGE TO A THIRD PARTY, YOUR VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF SERVICE, OR YOUR VIOLATION OF ANY RIGHTS OF ANOTHER, INCLUDING ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

IN NO EVENT SHALL MENTOR TOGETHER, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, PARTNERS OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO YOU, THE VENDOR OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING THOSE RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT FORESEEABLE OR WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR BASED ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, INCLUDING BREACH OF CONTRACT OR WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, OR ANY OTHER CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE OR MATERIALS.

THE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS IN THIS SECTION APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

8) Termination

This User Agreement is effective unless and until terminated by either you or the Trust. You may terminate this User Agreement at any time, provided that you discontinue any further use of the Website. We may terminate this User Agreement at any time and may do so immediately without notice, and accordingly deny you access to the Site.

Such termination will be without any liability to the Trust. The Trust’s right to any Comments and to be indemnified pursuant to the terms hereof, shall survive any termination of this User Agreement. Any such termination of the User Agreement shall not cancel your obligation to pay for product(s) already ordered from the Site or affect any liability that may have arisen under the User Agreement prior to the date of termination.

9) Disputes and Jurisdiction

All disputes involving but not limited to rights conferred, compensation, refunds, and other claims will be resolved through a two-step Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism.

1. Stage 1: In case of a dispute, the matter will first be attempted to be resolved by a sole mediator who is a neutral third party and will be selected at the mutual acceptance of a proposed mediator by both parties. Both parties may raise a name for the sole mediator and in the case both parties accept the proposed name, the said person shall be appointed as sole mediator. In case the parties are not able to reach a consensus within two proposed mediators, the Trust reserves the right to decide who the final mediator is. The decision of the mediator is not binding on both parties.
2. Stage 2: In case that mediation does not yield a result suitable or preferred by any one of the parties, arbitration may follow, the award of which is binding on both parties. The Arbitration Board shall comprise three members – one appointed by each party and the third member to be nominated by the two appointed members by mutual consent. Arbitration shall be held at Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The proceedings of arbitration shall be in the English language. The arbitrator’s award shall be final and binding on the Parties.

If the dispute cannot be resolved by this two-step Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism, it shall be referred to the courts at Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

10) Privacy

We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy and to use the information it contains to make informed decisions regarding Your personal information. Please also note that certain information, statements, data and content (such as but not limited to photographs) which You provide on the Website are likely to reveal Your gender, ethnic origin, nationality, age, and/or other personal information about You. You acknowledge and agree that your submission of such information is voluntary on Your part. Further, You acknowledge, consent and agree that we may access, preserve, and disclose information You provide to Us at any stage during Your use of the Website. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at support@mentortogether.org. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

11) Miscellaneous Provisions

Severability: If any provision of this Agreement shall to any extent be held invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall in no way be affected or impaired thereby and each such provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law. In such a case, this Agreement shall be reformed to the minimum extent necessary to correct any invalidity, illegality or unenforceability, while preserving to the maximum extent the rights and commercial expectations of the parties hereto, as expressed herein.

12) Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Agreement, the practices of Mentor Together, or your experience with the Website, you can e-mail us at support@mentortogether.org.