The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the plea of a woman who claimed to be the widow of the great-grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, seeking possession of the historic Red Fort in Delhi as its legal heir.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar swiftly termed the petition as “misconceived” and “meritless” at the outset and refused to entertain the appeal against the Delhi High Court’s previous order. “The writ petition filed initially was misconceived and meritless. It cannot be entertained,” Chief Justice Khanna stated.
The bench also declined the request from the counsel representing the petitioner, Sultana Begum, to withdraw the plea.
The counsel argued, “The petitioner is the family member of the first freedom fighter of the country.” However, Chief Justice Khanna countered, questioning the scope of such a claim, “If the arguments are considered then why only Red Fort then why not forts at Agra, Fatehpuri Sikri etc.”
The dismissal by the Supreme Court upholds the decision of a division bench of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected Begum’s appeal on December 13th of last year. The High Court had upheld a December 2021 decision by a single judge, noting that the appeal was filed after an “inordinate delay” of over two-and-a-half years, which could not be justified. Begum had cited her poor health and the death of her daughter as reasons for the delay.
The High Court had stated, “We find the said explanation inadequate, considering that the delay is of more than two-and-a-half years. The petition was also dismissed (by the single judge) for being inordinately delayed by several decades. The application for condonation of delay is dismissed. Consequently, the appeal is also dismissed. It is barred by limitation.”
The initial petition by Begum, dismissed by a single judge of the Delhi High Court on December 20, 2021, sought possession of the Red Fort, alleging it was illegally taken by the British East India Company.
The petition claimed that the Mughal family was deprived of their property following the first war of Independence in 1857, after which the emperor was exiled, and the Red Fort was forcefully seized. Begum asserted her ownership of the Red Fort as an inheritance from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died in exile in 1862 at the age of 82.
The petition further claimed that the government of India was an illegal occupant of the property and sought a direction for the Centre to hand over the Red Fort to her or provide adequate compensation
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