Today, On 13th December, The Delhi High Court dismissed a petition filed by a descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar-II seeking possession of the historic Red Fort. The court noted the petition was delayed by decades and exceeded the permissible legal time frame. It rejected the application for condonation of delay, stating the appeal was barred by limitation. This decision reaffirms the legal framework around historical property claims.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday denied the request of the widow of the great-grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who sought possession of the Red Fort as a legal heir.
A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela dismissed Sultana Begum’s appeal against a December 2021 ruling from a single judge, noting that the challenge was filed after a delay of over two and a half years, which could not be excused.
Begum argued that her health issues and the passing of her daughter prevented her from filing the appeal.
The bench found this explanation insufficient, stating,
“The delay is more than two and a half years. The petition was also dismissed 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.”
On December 20, 2021, the single judge rejected Begum’s petition for possession of the Red Fort, which she claimed was taken unlawfully by the British East India Company. The judge noted that there was no valid reason for the significant delay in seeking the court’s intervention after more than 150 years.
The petition, filed through advocate Vivek More, asserted that the family deprived of their property following the first war of Independence in 1857 when the emperor was exiled, and the Red Fort was forcibly taken from the Mughals.
It claimed that Begum inherited the Red Fort from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died on November 11, 1862, at the age of 82, and contended that the Indian government was illegally occupying the property.
The petition sought a directive to the Centre to either return the Red Fort to the petitioner or provide adequate compensation for its alleged illegal possession since 1857.
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