A desperate Indian woman who claims to be the heir to the Mughal dynasty went to court to secure ownership of the palace that once belonged to her ancestors. Now Sultana Begum survives on a meager pension in a squalid house in a slum on the outskirts of Calcutta. Among her modest property was a marriage certificate with Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht, the great-grandson of the last Mughal ruler in India. “Can you imagine that the representative of the family that built the Taj Mahal is now living in such poverty?”, The 68-year-old woman was quoted by the Al-Jazeera TV channel.

Through the courts, she hopes to return the property to the 17th century "Red Fortress" in Delhi, which was the residence of the Mughal rulers. The woman attached proof of her husband's relationship with the last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, crowned in 1837. By that time, the territory the empire had already shrunk to the size of a capital. The rest of Indian lands were conquered by the British. Twenty years later, the Red Fort became the center of a major anti-colonial uprising led by Zafar, known as the First Indian War of Independence. The uprising was suppressed, its leader was sent into exile in Myanmar, where he died 20 years later, ten sons of the last emperor were executed. Only one of them survived, who surrendered to the British. During the colonial period, the building was partially dismantled, but despite this, later became a real symbol of Indian independence. Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian flag for the first time. Ohr this ritual is repeated annually.

The Sultana herself lived a difficult life. At the age of 14, she was married to a man who was 32 years older and could barely feed their family. After his death, things got worse. Now she lives in a slum with one of her grandchildren, cooks in a shared kitchen with neighbors and bathes on a street pump. Despite her critical situation, she still hopes that the court will satisfy her claim and return a dignified life to her and her descendants.

bbabo.Net