Last updated: 4 July 2026
Who we are
Ramgarhia Sabha Southall ("we", "us", "the Sabha") operates the Matrimonial Services portal at ramgarhiamatrimonial.org. We are a registered charity (No. 279814) based at Gurdwara Ramgarhia Sabha, 53-57 Oswald Road, Southall, UB1 1HN. For anything relating to your personal data, contact us at matrimonial@ramgarhia.org or 07818 903 716. We are the data controller for the personal information you give us through this service.
What we collect
When you register, we collect the information on our application form: your name (including middle name and nanke name), date of birth, contact details (email, telephone, mobile, address), height, marital status and details of any children, physical build and appearance, nationality, community group, dietary preference, education and occupation, a written description of yourself, your partner preferences, and — if you choose to add one — your profile photograph. Where a family member registers on your behalf, we also record their name and relationship to you.
When you become a member, we record membership administration details: your membership ID, fee payment method, the identity and qualification checks completed by our team, and the date you joined.
While you use the service, we record the interests you express, the responses you give, notes you choose to add, messages you send through the portal, and support queries you raise. Our team also keeps internal notes to help serve you better (for example, preferences you've told us about in person).
Some of this information — such as your community group and your appearance and religious observance (for example whether you keep uncut hair, wear a turban, or are Amritdhari) — is treated as special category data under UK data protection law, because it reveals religious belief or practice. We only process it because you have given us your explicit consent when registering for a matrimonial service, and you can withdraw that consent at any time. (Your marital status and history are not special category data, but we still treat them as private and show them only as described below.)
How we use your information
- To operate the matrimonial service: verifying your identity, publishing your approved profile, managing interests and introductions, and enabling messaging between approved connections
- To administer your membership: fees, renewals, and correspondence about your account
- To contact you about the service, including notifications when someone expresses interest in your profile
- With your consent, to tell you about related community events such as coffee mornings and awareness sessions — you can opt out of these at any time without affecting your membership
- To keep the service safe: our volunteer team can view interests, responses, notes, and messages exchanged through the portal in order to safeguard all members
Our lawful basis for each purpose
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for everything we do with your information. Ours are:
- Running the service and administering your membership — contract. You register for a matrimonial service; we cannot provide it without processing your details.
- Safety oversight and our team's internal notes — legitimate interests. Our volunteers review interests, responses and messages to protect members from harm. We have weighed this against your privacy and consider it necessary and proportionate for a service that introduces people to one another.
- Emails about events such as coffee mornings and awareness sessions — consent. Entirely optional, and you can withdraw it at any time without affecting your membership.
- Records of membership fees — legal obligation. We are a registered charity and must keep proper accounting records.
- Special category information (your community group, and your appearance and religious observance) — explicit consent, which you give by ticking the consent boxes when you register.
What other members see
Privacy is built into the service:
- When members browse, they see only limited profile information: candidate number, name, nanke name, age, height, marital status, education, occupation, dietary preference, and the age range they are looking for. Your photograph and contact details are never shown when browsing.
- Your full profile is only visible to another member after our team has approved a connection between you both. At that point they can see their full profile, including their photograph if they consented to that, and secure messaging inside the portal. Telephone numbers and email addresses are never shared by the service.
- Your photograph is shown to an approved connection only if you ticked the photo consent at registration. If you did not, or you later withdraw it, the photo is not shown — the portal checks this every time an image is requested, so it takes effect immediately.
- We never share your telephone number or email address with other members through the portal. If you choose to exchange contact details in your conversations, that is your decision.
- Your private notes and responses are visible only to our team, never to other members.
- We never email your photograph to anyone. Photographs are only ever viewed inside the portal, or in person with our team at the Gurdwara.
Who else we share data with
We do not sell your data, ever. Your information is accessible to our small volunteer matrimonial team and the Sabha personnel who administer the service. Beyond that, we use the following providers, each acting only on our instructions under a written agreement:
- 20i Limited (United Kingdom) — website and database hosting. Your data is stored on servers in the UK.
- Mailgun (Sinch Email, operated by Sinch AB) — sends the emails this service produces, such as your approval email, notifications that someone has expressed interest, password resets and event newsletters. Mailgun processes the recipient's name and email address and the content of the message. Our Mailgun account is hosted in the United States, so these details are transferred outside the UK. That transfer is made under the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, which is the safeguard UK law requires. Mailgun also records whether an event newsletter was opened or a link in it was clicked.
- Digital Rapport® (United Kingdom) — builds and maintains this portal on the Sabha's behalf under a data processing agreement, with access to member data only as needed to support and fix the service.
If we introduce further providers, they will act only on our instructions and this notice will be updated. We may disclose information where the law requires it or where necessary to protect the safety of our members.
How long we keep it
We keep your information while you remain a candidate with us and for 12 months after your profile is removed, in case you wish to return, after which it is deleted. You can ask us to delete your profile and data at any time (see your rights below). Basic records of membership fees may be kept longer where charity accounting rules require it.
How we protect it
Passwords are stored using strong one-way encryption. The site is served over HTTPS. Access to member data is restricted by role, and significant actions by our team are recorded in an audit log. Photographs and contact details are withheld from browsing by design, not just by policy.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to: access a copy of your data; correct anything inaccurate; ask us to delete your data; restrict or object to processing; receive your data in a portable format; and withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent means we can no longer provide the matrimonial service to you, but it does not affect anything done before you withdrew.
To exercise any of these rights, email matrimonial@ramgarhia.org or speak to the team on a Sunday. We will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time — you can do that at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or by calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113.
Cookies
The portal uses only essential cookies — a session cookie to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
Changes
We will post any changes to this policy on this page and, for significant changes, notify members by email.