Legal
Terms of Service
Last updated: 29 September 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Rishta ("Rishta", "we"), which is run from Auckland by its founder and is not yet an incorporated company. By creating an account, you agree to these Terms. Please read them carefully.
1. Eligibility
You must be 18 years or older and legally able to enter contracts in Australia or New Zealand to use Rishta. By registering, you confirm you are single or separated and genuinely seeking a life partner. Creating a profile on behalf of another person without their explicit consent is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
2. Accurate information
You agree to provide true, accurate, and complete information when creating your profile and to keep it updated. Misrepresentation — including false age, profession, relationship status, location, or photos — is grounds for immediate account termination. A person reads every profile, and we will remove accounts that are not honest.
3. Identity verification
Every profile is read by a member of our team before it goes live. Until it passes, you cannot search and nobody can find you. We may decline or remove a profile that looks fake, duplicated, or dishonest, and we do not have to explain why. Verifying your identity is optional: if you choose to, Didit checks your document and a selfie, and we keep only the result, never the images.
4. Prohibited conduct
You must not: create fake, duplicate, or misleading profiles; harass, threaten, or abuse other users; use the platform for commercial solicitation; share another user's personal information without consent; attempt to circumvent our security measures; use Rishta to facilitate fraud or financial deception. Violations will result in immediate account termination and may be referred to law enforcement.
5. Messaging and interactions
You cannot send a private message to anyone until they have accepted your interest, and an interest must carry a written note of at least forty characters. Contact details are not displayed on profiles at any membership level. Rishta may review a conversation when a safety concern is reported to us. We do not read private messages proactively.
6. Matchmaking is done by people
Introductions, judgement calls and approaches on your behalf are made by people, not by an automated system. Search results are ordered by profile completeness and recent activity, never by what anyone paid. Where a profile shows how many of someone’s stated preferences you meet, that is a direct comparison of what you both wrote, not a prediction about whether a marriage would work.
7. Plans and payment
Women search, write, message and call free of charge, permanently. Men pay for Search, $39 AUD per month, to search and to write first; anyone can answer someone who writes to them for free. Matchmaker services are paid by whoever uses them, women and men alike: Icebreaker $39 AUD once, Vichola $1200 AUD per 3 months, and Rishta Elite $1999 AUD per 3 months. Prices are GST inclusive. For now you pay by bank transfer, and a plan opens when your payment is recorded. Plans do not renew automatically: each one simply ends at the end of the period you paid for. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law and the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act are not affected.
8. Intellectual property
Rishta owns all platform content, design, and software. You retain ownership of content you create (photos, profile text). By uploading content, you grant Rishta a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display your content to other users as part of the service. This licence ends when you delete your account.
9. Limitation of liability
Rishta is a platform that connects people — we are not responsible for the conduct of users offline. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Rishta's liability is limited to the amount you paid in the 3 months preceding any claim. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you have under Australian Consumer Law.
10. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Disputes will be resolved in NSW courts. For NZ users, the NZ Privacy Act 2020 applies to data handling.
11. Changes
We will notify you by email 14 days before material changes to these Terms. Continued use after that period constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the new Terms, you may close your account.
12. Contact
Legal enquiries: [email protected]. General: [email protected].