Most people with a legal problem in India do not have a lawyer. They have a WhatsApp group, a cousin who "knows about these things", and a search result written for someone in another country. The gap is not that the law is secret - every Bare Act is published - it is that reading it is a skill, and asking about it usually costs money before you know whether you even have a case.
That is the gap this is built for. Ask in plain words. Get the section.
Free and unlimited, no account needed. Answers cite the Indian statute and section they rely on. Ask in any of eight Indian languages. It is legal information, not advice - and when you need advice, the same conversation books a verified advocate.
What the free legal AI chat actually does
You type what happened. It works out which law governs it, tells you where you stand, names the section, and lays out what you can do next in the order you would actually do it. If a document would help - a legal notice, a complaint, an affidavit - it points you to the right one, which you can then generate on its document page.
Three things make it different from a search box. It reads the situation rather than matching keywords, so "my boss hasn't paid me for three months and now says I resigned" lands on the right statute without you knowing its name. It cites, so you can verify. And it is grounded in the current Acts, which matters more in India right now than it has in decades - the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act on 1 July 2024, and most material written before then is now citing repealed sections.
What an answer actually looks like
Here is a representative exchange - the shape, the citations and the sequencing are what the chat produces.
My landlord is keeping my ₹45,000 deposit. I moved out three months ago and he has stopped replying to my messages.
Your position is strong. A security deposit is your money. The landlord may deduct only what he can actually justify - unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, or repair of real damage. Normal wear and tear is not deductible.
- The deposit is refundable minus legitimate dues only Your rental agreement · general contract law
- The return window depends on your state and your agreement. In Tamil Nadu the deposit must be refunded within one month after you vacate; the Model Tenancy Act 2021 is only a model, with no force until a state enacts it TN Landlords and Tenants Act 2017, s.11
- Three months with no reply and no list of deductions is a long delay, so you are not early to act
What to do, in order. Send a written demand giving 15 days to refund, by a method that proves delivery. If he still does not pay, the forum depends on your state. In states with a tenancy law of their own, such as Tamil Nadu (2017) or Uttar Pradesh (2021), apply to the Rent Authority or Rent Court under that Act. Everywhere else, file a civil suit to recover the money, generally within three years.
- States with their own tenancy law TN Landlords and Tenants Act 2017, s.11 · UP Urban Premises Tenancy Act 2021, s.11
- Everywhere else Civil suit for recovery · Limitation Act 1963
This is legal information, not advice on your specific facts. Check the sections cited above.
That is the whole argument for the product. You now know the law, the section, the deadline and the sequence - before you have paid anyone anything.
Ask about your own situation — free.
Describe what happened in plain words. The answer names the section it relies on.Ask in your own language
Write in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati or Kannada and the answer comes back in the same language. You do not need legal vocabulary in any of them - describe it the way you would to a relative.
To be straight with you about what that does and does not mean: the answers are multilingual, the interface is still in English. If you write your question in Tamil you get a Tamil answer; the buttons around it say "Send".
What it covers
The areas below are where most questions land, and each links to a full guide if you would rather read than ask.
- Housing and tenancy - deposits, eviction, rent increases, subletting. Landlord not returning your deposit
- Employment - unpaid salary, notice periods, bonds, settlement, harassment at work. Full & final settlement not paid · Workplace sexual harassment
- Consumer - defective goods, refused refunds, service failures. Filing a consumer complaint
- Money recovery - bounced cheques, unpaid dues, loans. Cheque bounce under Section 138
- Family - divorce, maintenance, custody, succession. Mutual consent divorce
- Criminal and police - filing an FIR, arrest rights, bail. How to file an FIR under BNSS
- Notices and documents - when a legal notice is worth sending and what it must contain. How to send a legal notice
There are 86 guides in all, each reviewed and dated.
How this differs from asking ChatGPT
General assistants are good at explaining concepts and unreliable at Indian section numbers. The reason is structural: they answer from training data, and a great deal of Indian legal material online still cites the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act, which were replaced in July 2024. So you get a fluent answer with a section number that no longer exists, and no way to tell.
Legal Setu is grounded in the current Bare Acts and names the section it used, which is what makes it checkable. It also knows what it is not: when a matter needs a person, it says so and can hand the brief over.
We wrote this comparison out properly, including where a general assistant is genuinely the better tool: Legal Setu vs ChatGPT for Indian law.
What it will not do
Worth stating plainly, because a tool that pretends to have no limits is the one to distrust.
- It does not give advice on your specific facts, and it is not a lawyer-client relationship.
- It cannot appear for you, file for you, or sign anything.
- It can be wrong. Check the section it cites - that is why it names one.
- It will not tell you your case is strong to keep you engaged. Where the law is against you, it says so.
- For anything with a deadline, a sum of money, or your liberty attached, have a lawyer confirm it before you act.
What is free and what is not
The chat is free and unlimited, with no account required. Two things cost money, and both are optional:
- Documents - fill a form, watch the document build live, pay only if you want the PDF or Word file. From ₹99, most between ₹149 and ₹599. See the 36 documents
- A verified advocate - ₹99 reserves your slot — refunded if we can't match you in 6 business hours, the lawyer doesn't call, or you decline their quote (full terms). The lawyer's own fee is separate and agreed in writing first. How booking works
The two ₹99s are unrelated, which we realise is confusing: one is the cheapest document, the other reserves a lawyer's slot. Nothing else is charged, there is no subscription, and the chat does not become paid after a number of questions.
Start with the free chat — no card, no account.
Pay only if you later want a document or a lawyer.What to have ready before you ask
Nothing is required - you can start with a single sentence. But the answer gets sharper fast when you include a few things, because most of Indian law turns on dates, amounts and which state you are in.
- Dates. When it happened, when you complained, when they last replied. Limitation periods and notice windows are counted in days.
- Amounts. The rent, the salary, the cheque, the deposit. Which forum you go to often depends on the value.
- Your state. Tenancy, stamp duty and registration rules differ by state, and a generic answer is worth less than a local one.
- What you have in writing. An agreement, a WhatsApp thread, a payslip, a receipt. Evidence changes what is worth doing.
- What you have already tried. It changes the next step - a demand letter already sent moves you further down the sequence.
Who is behind it
Legal Setu is an Indian company, recognised as a startup by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under Startup India. The guides are written and dated, the documents are built from reviewed templates, and the advocates are Bar Council-verified. We would rather tell you what the tool cannot do than collect a signup on a promise it cannot keep.
Ask your question now — free, no account.
Answers cite the Indian statute they rely on, so you can check them.