SC junks plea of woman claiming possession of iconic Red Fort
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the plea of a woman, who claimed to be the widow of great-grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, seeking possession of the Red Fort here on account of being the legal 'heir'.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar termed the plea as “misconceived” and “meritless” at the outset and refused to entertain the petition filed against the Delhi High Court order.
“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, Fatehpuri Sikri etc”.
A division bench of the Delhi High Court, on December 13, last year, had dismissed the appeal by Begum against the December 2021 decision of a HC single judge, noting the challenge was filed after a delay of over two-and-a-half years, which could not be condoned.
Begum said she could not file the appeal owing to her bad health and passing away of her daughter.
"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.
On December 20, 2021, the single judge dismissed Begum's petition seeking possession of the Red Fort taken illegally by the British East India Company, saying there was no justification for the inordinate delay in approaching the court after over 150 years.
The petition claimed the family was deprived of their property by the Britishers after the first war of Independence in 1857, following which the emperor was exiled from the country and possession of the Red Fort was forcefully taken away from the Mughals.
It claimed that Begum was the owner of the Red Fort as she inherited it from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died on November 11, 1862 at the age of 82, and the government of India was an illegal occupant of the property.
The petition sought a direction to the Centre to hand over the Red Fort to the petitioner or give adequate compensation
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
