"Why only Red Fort and not Fatehpur Sikri also?" Supreme Court rejects Mughal heir's plea for Red Fort possession

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by a woman claiming to be the descendant of last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and seeking possession of Red Fort by virtue of her lineage [Sultana Begum Vs. Union Of India And Anr.]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar said the plea filed by Sultana Begum was completely misconceived."Why only Red fort? Why not Fatehpur Sikri? Why leave them also. Writ is completely misconceived. Dismissed," the Court ordered.The counsel for the petitioner said that the Delhi High Court had dismissed the plea on ground of delay and not on merits, and asked the top court to grant the same concession."Please dismiss on delay only," he said.However, the Court rejected the request and proceeded to dismiss the matter on merits."No, dismissed," the Court ordered.."Why only Red fort? Why not Fatehpur Sikri?Supreme Court.Earlier, a High Court Bench of Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela had dismissed the plea in December 2024 after noting that it was barred by limitation as there was a delay of two and a half years in filing the plea after it was dismissed by a single-judge of the High Court..With regard to the application seeking condonation of delay, the High Court had noted that the appeal was filed after a delay of over 900 days since the single-judge order was passed. .Begum first moved the High Court in 2021 claiming that she was the widow of the great-grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar II. It was argued that her family had been deprived of their property by the British East India Company following the first war of Independence in 1857, after which Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled from the country and possession of the Red Fort was taken away from the Mughals.The same is now under the illegal occupation of Government of India, it was argued.Hence, she sought possession as well as compensation from Government of India for its alleged illegal occupation of the property.A single-judge dismissed the plea in December 2021 saying that the cause of action arose more than 164 years ago. “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 single-judge noted. Begum then filed an appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court which came to be dismissed in December 2024 on the ground of delay.This led to the present appeal before the apex court.