‘Kin’ of Delhi’s last Mughal king seeks possession of Red Fort

NEW DELHI: Citing an inordinate delay of over a century, the Delhi high court on Monday dismissed a plea by a woman seeking possession of the historic Red Fort, claiming that she is the widow of late Mirza Mohammed Bedar Bakht, the great-grandson and legal heir of last Mughal emperor late Bahadur Shah Zafar II.

The woman, Sultana Begum, who, according to reports, resides in Kolkata, claimed that her late husband managed to escape to India from Rangoon, where the last Mughal emperor was exiled by the East India Company.

Her plea claimed that after her husband returned to India, he was recognised as the inheritor of Bahadur Shah II in 1960 by the Government of India, and after his death in 1980, she started receiving a pension.

Sultana Begum moved court to seek the rights to Red Fort while also seeking compensation from the union government for the alleged illegal occupation of the historic monument for several years.

On Monday, justice Rekha Palli sought to know the reasons for the delay in filing the petition and asking for the claim after 150 years.

“First explain the delay...in approaching the court. Forget about whether you can be owner or not because the first line of your petition (is) that there was injustice caused to you by the British East India Company,” the court told the counsel for the petitioner.

“According to you, the injustice was done in 1857. After 170 years you have approached the court, please explain how you can do that. We will then come to merits, how you own the Red Fort, we will see. We need to inform all other people they should not be using it without permission, that is what you want to say,” said the court.

When the counsel for the petitioner said that his client is illiterate and could not file the plea, the court said, “…merely because the petitioner is an illiterate person, there is no reason as to why if the petitioner’s predecessors were aggrieved by any action of the East India Company, no steps were taken in this regard at the relevant time or soon thereafter.”

The judge said that the petition is a gross misuse of time and rejected any relief while clarifying that it was not going into the merits of the petition.

According to you, the injustice was done in 1857. After 170 years you have approached the court, please explain how you can do that. DELHI HC BENCH