Woman claiming to be Mughal heiress wants possession of Red Fort; Supreme Court says nothing doing

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a woman’s petition seeking possession of the historic Red Fort in the national capital on account of being the widow and the legal 'heiress' of great-grandson of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II.

"Why only Red fort? Why not Fatehpur Sikri? Why leave them also? The writ petition is completely misconceived and meritless,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna said, dismissing the petition filed by Sultana Begum.

She had sought a direction to the Centre to hand over the Red Fort to her or to give adequate compensation.

“The petitioner is the family member of the first freedom fighter of the country,” her counsel said, but sought to withdraw the petition after it became clear that the top court wouldn't entertain it.

The Bench, however, did not allow the petitioner’s counsel to withdraw her petition challenging the December 13, 2024 order of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court dismissing her appeal against a December 2021 order of a single judge. The High Court Division Bench had junked her petition, saying the challenge was filed after a delay of over two-and-a-half-years, which could not be condoned.

Begum said she could not file the appeal owing to her bad health and the passing away of her daughter.

"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 High Court had said.

On December 20, 2021, the single judge dismissed Begum's petition seeking possession of the Red Fort taken illegally by the British East India Company, saying there was no justification for the inordinate delay in approaching the court after over 150 years.

The petitioner claimed her family was deprived of their property by the British after the first war of Independence in 1857, following which the emperor was exiled from the country and possession of the Red Fort was forcibly taken away from the Mughals.

Begum claimed that she was the owner of the Red Fort as she inherited it from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died in November 1862 at the age of 87 at Yangon in Myanmar, and the government of India was an illegal occupant of the property.