SC trashes plea by woman who asks top court to give her Red Fort back

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a woman claiming to be a descendant of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, seeking possession of Delhi’s iconic Red Fort.

 

According to a report by Bar and Bench, a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar called the petition “completely misconceived”.

 

“Why only Red Fort? Why not Fatehpur Sikri? Why leave them also?  Writ is completely misconceived. Dismissed,” the bench remarked while passing the order, as quoted by the Bar and Bench. 

 

 

The petition was filed by Sultana Begum, who said she was the widow of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s great-grandson. She claimed her family lost the Red Fort after the 1857 revolt, when the British East India Company took control and exiled the emperor. According to her, the Red Fort is now under the “illegal occupation” of the Indian government.

 

She also demanded compensation for this alleged ‘illegal occupation’. Her lawyer told the court that the Delhi High Court had earlier rejected the case only because of a delay and not because of the facts. “Please dismiss on delay only,” he urged the court.

 

However, the Supreme Court refused and replied, “No, dismissed,” choosing to reject the petition on merit instead.

 

Earlier, in December 2024, the Delhi High Court had thrown out Begum’s appeal because of a delay of more than 900 days in filing the case. A single judge of the High Court had first dismissed the petition in December 2021, pointing out that the issue was over 164 years old.

 

“Even if the petitioner’s case were to be accepted that late, Bahadur Shah Zafar II was illegally deprived of his property by the East India Company, as to how the writ petition would be maintainable after such an inordinate delay of over 164 years when it is an admitted position that the petitioner’s predecessors were always aware of this position,” the judge had said, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

 

After the High Court’s decision, Begum appealed to the Supreme Court, which has now dismissed the case.