SC junks plea of woman claiming possession of iconic Red Fort

The iconic Red Fort in Delhi.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Monday (May 5, 2025) rejected the plea of a woman, who claimed to be the widow of great-grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, seeking possession of the Red Fort here on account of being the legal ‘heir’.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar termed the plea as “misconceived” and “meritless” at the outset and refused to entertain the petition filed against the Delhi High Court order.

“The writ petition filed initially was misconceived and meritless. It cannot be entertained,” the CJI said.

The bench did not allow the counsel for petitioner Sultana Begum to withdraw the plea.

“The petitioner is the family member of the first freedom fighter of the country,” the counsel said.

The CJI said if the arguments are considered then “why only Red Fort then why not forts at Agra, Fatehpuri Sikri etc”.

A division bench of the Delhi High Court, on December 13, last year, had dismissed the appeal by Ms. Begum against the December 2021 decision of a HC single judge, noting the challenge was filed after a delay of over two-and-a-half years, which could not be condoned.

Ms. Begum said she could not file the appeal owing to her bad health and 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 Ms. 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 petition claimed the family was deprived of their property by the Britishers after the first war of Independence in 1857, following which the emperor was exiled from the country and possession of the Red Fort was forcefully taken away from the Mughals.

It claimed that Ms. Begum was the owner of the Red Fort as she inherited it from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died on November 11, 1862 at the age of 82, and the government of India was an illegal occupant of the property.

The petition sought a direction to the Centre to hand over the Red Fort to the petitioner or give adequate compensation.