Delhi HC rejects ownership claim by Bahadur Shah Zafar’s descendants over Lal Qila

The Delhi High Court has rejected a petition filed by the widow of the great-grandson of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, in which she claimed legal ownership of the Lal Qila (Red Fort).

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Vibhav Bakhru and Justice Geeta Yadav dismissed the appeal by Sultana Begum against the December 2021 decision of a single judge bench. The bench noted that there had been a delay of more than two and a half years in challenging the decision. Sultana Begum stated that she could not file the appeal earlier due to health issues and the death of her daughter. However, the judges found this explanation inadequate.

Earlier, on December 20, 2021, the single judge bench of the High Court had dismissed her petition due to the decades-long unnecessary delay.

On this occasion, Sultana Begum further said that the British East India Company had illegally seized the Lal Qila. However, the court stated that there was no justification for approaching the court after one and a half centuries.

In the petition filed through lawyer Vivek More, it was stated that the British had deprived the royal family of their property after the 1857 War of Independence, exiled Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to a foreign land, and forcibly took the Lal Qila from the Mughals. Sultana Begum stated that she was the rightful owner of the Lal Qila as it was inherited from her ancestors. The petition further stated that the Government of India was illegally occupying the Lal Qila and sought directions for it to be handed over to the petitioner, along with compensation for the illegal occupation from 1857 to the present.