Supreme Court dismisses the plea of the women claiming the possession of Red Fort

New Delhi(India) May 6: On Monday, May 5, 2025, the Supreme Court denied a woman's request to take ownership of the Red Fort in New Delhi as the legitimate "heir" after she claimed to be the widow of the great-grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar first rejected the petition against the Delhi High Court judgement, calling the plea "misconceived" and "meritless.”

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, Fatehpur Sikri etc”.

Ms. Begum's appeal against the December 2021 ruling of a Delhi High Court single judge was dismissed by a division bench on December 13 of last year. The bench noted that the challenge was submitted after a wait of more than two and a half years, which could not be justified.

Ms. Begum said that because of her poor health and the death of her daughter, she had no choice but to move forward with the appeal.

"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.

The solo judge denied Ms. Begum's petition on December 20, 2021, claiming that there was no reason for the long wait in bringing the case before the court after more than 150 years. The suit sought custody of the Red Fort, which had been unlawfully stolen by the British East India Company.

The petition said that after the first struggle of independence in 1857, when the emperor was removed from the nation and the Red Fort was forcibly taken from the Mughals, the British had stripped the family of their property.

 It argued that the Indian government was an illegal occupant of the Red Fort and that Ms. Begum was the rightful owner, having inherited it from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who passed away on November 11, 1862, at the age of 82.

Begum's lawyer contended that the Delhi high court's division bench had rejected the petition on the grounds of delay alone, not on the merits, and requested the bench, led by Chief Justice Khanna, to do the same on Monday when it indicated its intention to reject Begum's plea.

However, his request was denied by the highest court, which dismissed the petition.

Aadrika Tayal