hc-says-no-to-bahadur-shah-s-heir-s-claim-over-red-fort

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea by Sultana Begum, the widow of the great-grandson of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, seeking possession of the iconic Red Fort.

 

The court observed that the petition suffered from "inordinate delay" and lacked sufficient justification for its tardiness.

 

A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela upheld the December 2021 decision of a single judge, which had dismissed Begum’s plea, citing that the challenge came over 150 years after the events in question.

 

Furthermore, the court highlighted that Begum’s appeal itself was delayed by more than two-and-a-half years, which could not be condoned.

 

"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 bench ruled.

 

Begum attributed the delay to her ill health and the recent demise of her daughter. However, the court found these reasons insufficient.

 

In her petition, filed through advocate Vivek More, Begum argued that her family had been deprived of their ancestral property following the events of the first war of Independence in 1857.

 

She claimed that the British East India Company had forcibly taken possession of the Red Fort and exiled Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died in Rangoon on 11 November 1862.

 

Asserting her status as the legal heir, Begum contended that she inherited the ownership of the Red Fort and alleged that the Government of India was occupying the property illegally.

 

She sought either the return of the fort or adequate compensation, including reparations for the period between 1857 and the present.

 

The single judge, in 2021, dismissed the petition, noting that there was no valid reason for approaching the court after more than a century-and-a-half. The Division Bench echoed this sentiment, ruling the appeal as "barred by limitation."

 

The Red Fort, an enduring symbol of India’s rich history, continues to stand as a government property and a prominent heritage site.