Chandigarh, Nov. 6 -- A local court in Chandigarh has convicted city-based lawyer Siddharth Sanwaria of defaming PC Sanghi, a retired chief engineer and former chairperson of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Association, (FOSWAC), Chandigarh, after a 14-year-old legal battle. The court held Sanwaria guilty under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced him to two years of simple imprisonment for publishing defamatory material intended to damage Sanghi's reputation and obstruct his nomination as a nominated councillor in Chandigarh municipal corporation. The case dates to 2011 when Sanghi filed a complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC against Sanwaria, his father AP Sanwaria, mother Sushila Devi, and brother Sailesh. Sanghi, who is a retired chief engineer of the Haryana Housing Board and a former nominated councillor of Chandigarh municipal corporation had submitted that he had been elected the FOSWAC chairman for 18 years in a row. Sanwaria and his kin had allegedly filed false affidavits, given wrong residential addresses and changed the name of guardians before the Registrar Cooperative Societies, Chandigarh, to concoct cases against him so as to win the FOSWAC election. In 2007, when they lost the elections, Sanwaria further tried to defame him in other cases, including a case of using casteist remarks against a sanitation worker. In view of the seriousness of the complaint, FOSWAC authorised Sanghi to file a suit against the accused and his other family members. In court, Sanghi presented seven witnesses to testify about his character. Sanwaria, in his defense, argued that the witnesses had failed to establish defamation as they admitted that either they had tendered the evidence on hearsay or they were not aware of the contents of the complaint or further they had not verified the antecedents of Sanghi from public records. He also alleged that the witnesses were all associates of Sanghi and had a personal vendetta against him. The court observed that it remained on record that the complainant did not have any departmental punishment in his service record. Regarding a complaint about casteist remarks, as alleged by the accused, no criminal action was taken against the complainant on or before the complaint. The court also noted that there were, however, a number of litigations pending between the complainant and accused. The court ruled that the Sanghi had been able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt and held Sanwaria guilty....