A woman from Delhi, claiming to be the widow of the great grandson of the last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zaraf II recently approached the court and asked for reparations.
Sultana Begum claimed ownership of the Red Fort and asked the court to hand it over to her. She said that if this was not possible, she would like to get monetary compensation.
Justice Rekha Palli, the judge presiding over her case dismissed her plea and denied her rights to the monument. She said that the petitioner was 150 years too late, and that handing over the Red Fort would not be possible.
According to Sultana Begum's lawyer, she is the widow of Late Mirza Mohammed Bedar Bakht, great-grandson and legal and rightful heir of the last Mughal Emperor late Bahadur Shah Zafar II king of Delhi. After his death in 1980, Begum was also given pensions by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In her petition, Sultana claimed that her family was being denied of their property since 1857, ever since the East Indian Company took over and seized all property that belonged to the Mughal Empire.
Sultana was denied the Fort because of how long she took to claim compensation. "My history is weak but you claim injustice was done to you by the British East India Company in 1857. Why is there a delay of over 150 years? What were you doing all these years?" asked Justice Rekha Palli while quashing the petitioner's plea.
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