Privacy & Confidentiality Policy

Our Commitment

CJP Legal Aid is committed to protecting your privacy and maintaining the confidentiality of all information shared on this platform. We understand that people seeking legal aid are often in vulnerable situations, and we treat your data with the utmost care and respect.

Information We Collect

• Phone number & Email: For account creation and communication. These are the minimum required.
• Location (State/District): To match you with advocates in your area.
• Case details: Nature of issue, urgency level, and description you provide.
• Documents: Any files you voluntarily upload (FIRs, notices, etc.).
• Chat messages: Communications between you and your assigned advocate.

We do NOT collect: Aadhaar numbers, biometric data, political affiliations, or any information not directly relevant to providing legal assistance.

How Your Information is Used

• To verify your identity and prevent spam/abuse
• To match you with an appropriate volunteer advocate
• To facilitate communication between you and your advocate
• To track case status and provide updates
• To generate anonymized statistics (no personal identifiers)

Progressive Trust Model

We follow a progressive trust model where information disclosure is entirely under your control:

• Level 0 (Default): Your identity is anonymous. Only your state/district and issue type are visible to advocates browsing available cases.
• Level 1 (Case Accepted): When an advocate accepts your case, a chat channel opens. Your first name may be shown. Communication happens exclusively through the platform.
• Level 2 (You Choose): You can explicitly share your phone number, full name, or email with the advocate. This is YOUR decision and can be revoked at any time.
• Level 3 (Case Closed): When a case is resolved, advocate's access to your documents is revoked. Chat history is archived and encrypted.

Data Security

• All communications are encrypted in transit and at rest
• Documents are stored in encrypted storage with access controls
• Uploaded documents are automatically watermarked to prevent misuse
• Access logs are maintained for all data access
• Regular security audits are conducted

Who Can See Your Data

Data Sharing — We NEVER

• ❌ Share your data with any government agency
• ❌ Share your data with any political party or organization
• ❌ Sell or monetize your data in any way
• ❌ Use your data for advertising or profiling
• ❌ Share your data with other applicants or unassigned advocates

Legal Privilege

Communications between you and your assigned advocate are protected by lawyer-client privilege under Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act. This means these communications cannot be disclosed without your consent, even in court proceedings.

Your Rights

• Right to know what data we hold about you
• Right to revoke shared details at any time
• Right to request data deletion (subject to legal retention requirements)
• Right to report concerns about data handling
• Right to data portability (export your case data)

Data Retention

• Active cases: Data retained while case is open
• Resolved cases: Anonymized after 90 days (configurable by user)
• Chat history: Deleted 30 days after case resolution (default, configurable)
• Documents: Access revoked on case closure, deleted after 90 days
• Account data: Retained until you request deletion