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Widowed ‘heir’ to Indian royal dynasty fights for ownership of New Delhi’s Red Fort

SCMP, 31 Dec 2021
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Sultana Begum says she has records of her marriage at the age of 14 into the family of India’s once-powerful Mughal empire. Her late husband, Mirza Mohammad Bedar Bakht, is purported to be the great-grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar. When her husband died in 1980, Begum was left penniless and struggling to get by in a slum in Kolkata. Over the past decade, she has pressed her claim to be heir to the Mughal dynasty, even fighting a legal battle over property including New Delhi’s iconic Red Fort. While the court has rejected her claim, Begum’s lawyers say they will appeal to a higher court.

Related story:
The Indian slum-dweller who claims ownership of New Delhi’s Red Fort https://sc.mp/coet

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