Widow of Bahadur Shah Zafar's great grandson in Delhi HC lays claim on Red Fort as legal heir
New Delhi, Dec 20: A woman claiming to be the widow of great grandson of Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar-II moved the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking that the Red Fort which was illegally taken over by British East India Company be handed over to her on the grounds that she was the legal heir.
Dimissing the plea, Justice Rekha Palli said there was no justification for the inordinate delay in approaching the court after over 150 years.
Petitioner Sultana Begum said she was the widow of late Mirza Mohammed Bedar Bakht who died on May 22, 1980. She said she was the widow of the great-grandson Bahadur Shah Zafar-II of Delhi and his rights were taken away by the British East India Company arbitrarily and forcefully.
The judge said: My history is very 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 for all these years?
The court said, Everybody knew about it. Everyone in the court must have read this history that he was trying to exile. It was known to the world. Why was nothing filed in time? If her ancestors did not do it, can she do it now?
The petition, filed through advocate Vivek More, claimed that the family had been deprived of their property by the British following the first war of Independence in 1857, after which the king was exiled from the country and possession of the Red Fort was taken away from the Mughals.
The plea said the woman is the owner of the Red Fort because she inherited this property from her ancestor Bahadur Shah Zafar-II, who died in November 1862 at the age of 82, and alleged that the government of India is illegal occupant of the property.
The court also rejected the submission made by the petitioner's counsel that she was an illiterate woman due to which she could not approach earlier.
The plea sought direction to the Centre to hand over the Red Fort of Delhi to the petitioner or give adequate compensation to her and also grant her compensation from 1857 to till date for alleged illegal possession by the government.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
