The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by a woman claiming to be the descendant of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and thus, seeking possession of the Red Fort.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar dismissed the petition filed by Sultana Begum after noting that it was completely “misconceived.”
The bench even asked why Begum had her eyes set only on the Red Fort, for if she were indeed related to the last Mughal emperor, as she claimed, she could claim lineage to other monuments and the whole ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri.
“Why only Red fort? Why not Fatehpur Sikri? Why leave them also. Writ is completely misconceived. Dismissed,” the court said.
The petitioner moved the Supreme Court after her petition seeking possession of the Red Fort was dismissed by a division bench of the Delhi high court in December last year.
Begum first filed her petition seeking ownership of the Red Fort in 2021 before a single judge bench of the Delhi high court. She claimed at the time that she was the widow of Mirza Mohammed Bedar Bakht, who was the great-grandson and legal heir of Bahadur Shah Zafar. She had sought compensation from the Union government for the alleged illegal occupation of the historic monument.
The single judge however, dismissed her petition after holding that it had been filed after an inordinate delay of “more than a century.” The court also said the petition was a gross misuse of time.
When Begum filed an appeal challenging the single judge’s decision, the division bench of the Delhi high court, too, junked her petition after noting that the appeal had been filed after a delay of over two years.
When the bench led by CJI Khanna expressed its inclination to dismiss Begum’s plea on Monday, her counsel argued that the division bench of the Delhi high court had dismissed the petition not on merits but on the mere ground of delay and urged it, too, to dismiss it only on the ground of delay.
The apex court, however, rejected his request and dismissed the petition on merits.