Latest news with #HamidullahKhan
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Health
- Time of India
Mayor mum on renaming Hamidia hospital at meet
Bhopal: In contrast to last week's heated BMC council debate over renaming institutions linked to Last Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan, the subject was absent from Hamidia hospital meeting, despite the presence of BMC Mayor Malti Rai, here on Monday. "The issue (renaming of Hamidia Hospital) was not discussed," said Rai. Her presence, however, fuelled speculation about the proposal, as mayors rarely attend meetings at government medical colleges. Meanwhile, the largest tertiary care hospital, now in its 70th year, is enhancing its healthcare and educational facilities by introducing a bone marrow transplant facility and a mother milk bank. The new bone marrow transplant unit, to be established on the fourth floor of Block H-1, carries an estimated cost of Rs 16–18 crore. This facility will provide specialised treatments for blood-related conditions at reduced rates, whilst Ayushman card holders will receive free treatment.
India Today
17 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
BJP's new renaming call in Bhopal has a Pakistan angle: Why the row?
The controversy over renaming of places, public buildings and amenities has returned to Bhopal, with BJP leaders demanding that the names of the government-run Hamidia Hospital and Hamidia College be hospital, attached to the state-run Gandhi Medical College, and the college are named after Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal. The demand of some BJP leaders in the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is based on their claim that the last Nawab was keen to join his state with Pakistan and was therefore a traitor. The BJP leaders have not produced any evidence to support their week, BJP corporators submitted a resolution in the BMC, demanding that the Hamidia Hospital and Hamidia College be renamed. Congress corporators, led by leader of the Opposition Shabista Zaki, opposed it on the grounds that the BMC did not have the authority to rename buildings. However, the resolution was passed in the House.A week before, the BMC House had passed a resolution demanding that the Ashoka Garden locality in Bhopal be renamed as Rambagh. The local BJP corporator claimed the locality's original name was Rambagh. Congress leader Abbas Hafiz said such demands were merely aimed at creating distractions from the real issues that plagued Bhopal. 'BJP leaders feel raising communal demands will help them resurrect their political careers,' he said.A section of the BJP leadership has in the past targeted the former Nawab of Bhopal. Two claims were made against him—one that he allegedly delayed signing the merger with the Union of India and second, a firing by the Bhopal state police in Raisen district on youth who were demanding an early merger of the Bhopal princely state with the Union of and Madhya Pradesh at large, are no stranger to renaming rows. In 2021, the administration had renamed the Habibganj railway station in Bhopal after Rani Kamalapati, the Gond princess who ruled the region in the 18th has also been a demand to change Bhopal to 'Bhojpal' after the medieval Parmar ruler Raja Bhoj. The Mohan Yadav government has not yet taken a stand on the issue although the administration, in January, renamed some villages that were thought to have an 'Islamic' ring to their to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
NDTV
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Explained: Why Saif Ali Khan Could Lose Rs 15,000 Crore Royal Legacy
Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan - the grandson of Iftikhar Ali Khan, the last ruler of the former princely state of Pataudi in Haryana - is on the brink of losing a chunk of his royal legacy after the Madhya Pradesh High Court set aside a trial court order recognising him, and his immediate family, as the sole owners of properties worth Rs 15,000 crore in and around Bhopal. These properties include the Noor-Us-Sabah Palace (now a luxury hotel) and Flagstaff House in the city, as well as palaces, royal bungalows, and other real estate scattered around the state. The actor must now wage a legal battle to hold on to those properties and his legacy; the High Court directed the trial court to re-examine the case and deliver a fresh ruling within a year. But that isn't the only challenge facing the actor - having quite the tumultuous 2025 after being stabbed in January during a home invasion - for he must also contest the government's 'enemy' property tag. Saif Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi (and Bhopal?) Technically, yes. Khan, 54, is the great-grandson of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal. Hamidullah Khan's second daughter, Sajida Sultan, is the actor's grandmother. Hamidullah Khan, Nawab of Bhopal. Photo: Carl Vandyk - Carl Vandyk, Public Domain The Nawab's first daughter and oldest child, Abida Sultan Begum migrated to Pakistan after the Partition - remember this point, we'll return to it shortly - while Sajida Sultan chose to stay in India, succeeded her father, and inherited the late Nawab's privately-held properties. That inheritance was acknowledged by the government in 1962; a Home Ministry notification said the government had no objection to the properties being transferred to her name. Again, remember this point. Sajida Sultan then married Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, and these properties were then passed down to her son, Mansoor Ali Khan, and then grandson, Saif Ali Khan. So far, so good. Now for the plot twist. The High Court Setback In 2000 a Madhya Pradesh trial court ruled that Saif and his family - his mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha and Saba Ali Khan - were the rightful heirs to the Bhopal properties. That decision, however, was challenged by other descendants of Hamidullah Khan, who argued the last Bhopal Nawab's wealth should be divided according to Muslim Personal Law. Last week the High Court agreed and re-opened the question of succession. And so, if the trial court now reverses its original ruling, Saif Ali Khan will lose a portion, possibly quite a large one too, of his family's inheritance from Hamidullah Khan and Sajida Sultan. The 'Enemy Property' Act Meanwhile, a second (and possibly stiffer) challenge lurks in the shadows. Now, remember the points from earlier? In 2014 the government issued a notice to Saif Ali Khan that said the Enemy Property Act of 1968 would be applied to the Rs 15,000 crore in properties inherited from the former Bhopal ruler. The notice argued that since Hamidullah Khan's oldest daughter, his natural heir, had surrendered Indian citizenship by migrating to Pakistan, the properties were now considered as belonging to the 'enemy' and, therefore, subject to seizure by the Indian government. The Bhopal properties were inherited by Saif Ali Khan via Hamidullah Khan's second daughter, Sajida Sultan, who became the de facto heir after her sister's migration. In 1962 the government - then led by the late Jawaharlal Nehru - accepted the claim, and said she was "the sole successor to all private properties, movable and immovable, held by Nawan Hamidullah... no objection to such properties being transferred to Sajida Sultan Begum". In any case, Saif Ali Khan contested this claim in court and won a temporary stay. But in December 2024 the High Court dismissed his petition and lifted that stay, and gave the actor and his family 30 days to file an appeal. The dismissal was based on the government repealing the 1968 law on 'enemy' property "from a retrospective date" and set up an appellate authority - the Custodian of Enemy Property in Mumbai - to re-examine all such issues. And that authority overruled the 1962 notice recognising Sajida Sultan as the heir. It is unclear if Saif Ali Khan filed that appeal on time, particularly since the actor was stabbed on January 16, was hospitalised for nearly a week, and spent weeks after recovering from surgery. NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.
Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Saif Ali Khan's case: understanding the Enemy Property Act, a law born out of war and the legacy of Partition
Saif Ali Khan, the great-grandson of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal, is embroiled in a complex legal dispute with the Indian government. Several of his key assets, including the Flag Staff House and Noor-Us-Sabah Palace in Bhopal, have been designated as 'enemy properties' because Abida Sultan, Hamidullah Khan's eldest daughter, migrated to Pakistan. Interestingly, this lawsuit is one among the growing number of cases where claimants are seeking ownership of enemy properties. But what is the Enemy Property Act, when was it enacted, and where does it originate from? The Enemy Property Act was passed by the Parliament in 1968. In Siyasi Muslims: A Story of Political Islams in India (2019), author Hilal Ahmed argues that the act 'empowered the government,' to regulate the appropriation of property in India owned by those who have taken up Pakistani nationality. Authors Onkareshwar Pandey and Manmohan Sharma, in The Issue of Enemy Property and India's National Interest (2011), explain that the act bestowed the Indian government with the sole right to acquire the properties of those who adopted the nationality of Pakistan or China following the wars between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, and the Sino-Indian War in 1962. Initially called evacuee property, these properties were placed under the watchful eye of custodians when their original owners left for Pakistan. Following the India-Pakistan war of 1965, both countries agreed, in the Tashkent Declaration of 1966, to discuss the return of property seized by the other side. 'All that occurred instead was a change in nomenclature, as evacuee property came to be redesignated as enemy property,' says political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal in Citizenship And Its Discontents: An Indian History (2013). While Pakistan sold off its enemy properties owned by Indians who migrated during 1965–1976, the custodian of enemy property in India continues to hold such assets, estimated to be worth thousands of crores. As of today, there are approximately 2,000 enemy properties spread across the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat. In The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories (2007), author Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar draws attention to the post Custodian of Enemy Property that was established in Britain during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945). 'It was a part of the 'trading with the enemy' legislation which allowed the British government to take over the properties of 'belligerent enemies' in Britain, which included citizens of Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as 'technical enemies,' which included citizens of Czechoslovakia and Poland,' she notes. According to Zamindar, properties of 220,000 people were seized through the legislation. The first 'high-profile' case, concerning the Enemy Property Act, was that of Mohammed Amir Mohammed (M A M) 'Suleiman' Khan, the Raja of Mahmudabad in Uttar Pradesh in 2005. After a battle that lasted 32 years, the Supreme Court awarded Khan the right to take over his late father's extensive properties. Khan's father had migrated to Pakistan in 1957, leaving properties that, according to Jayal, account for almost half of all enemy properties in the country (1,100 of 2,100). M A M Khan was twice elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, and used his loyalty as an Indian citizen to his favour. Jayal notes that Khan, in a public response, said: 'I petitioned everyone, saying my mother and I are Indians, not enemies. I wanted the stigma of 'enemy of state' on my family to be removed and I am happy that I have won this battle.' In the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment in the Mahmudabad case, Indian courts were flooded by many such claimants of enemy properties. One such case, cited by Pandey and Sharma, was filed in the Allahabad High Court where a person claimed nearly one-third of Agra, including the Taj Mahal. Interestingly, the claimant also furnished documents proving his lineage. This led the Indian government to propose an amendment to the Enemy Property Act of 1968, 'to prevent the indiscriminate purchase and sale of 'enemy property,' to debar courts from passing more such orders giving away enemy property worth huge sums of money,' notes Jayal. Although the Bill was withdrawn, the government, on July 2, 2010, promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance. According to scholars, the ordinance sought to undo the effect of the many claims on enemy properties by vesting all rights in the custodian and the central government. Muslim members of the Parliament, however, protested and urged the prime minister to reconsider this, keeping in mind the rights of minorities since most of those claiming the enemy property were Muslims. The Raja of Mahmudabad, as cited by Jayal, asked: 'Are they being punished for choosing to stay back in India even though the SC has upheld their rights as Indian citizens?' Prime minister Manmohan Singh acceded to the request on August 4, 2010, withdrawing the existing law. Finally, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to introduce the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill, 2010. The Bill was to cover '80 properties seized under the Defence of India Rules of 1962 after their Chinese-origin owners migrated or were deported, and 2,168 highly prized properties declared 'enemy property' through the 1968 law after their owners migrated to Pakistan following the 1965 war,' state Pandey and Sharma. While Saif Ali Khan's case has thrust the 1968 act back into the limelight, what remains, according to Jayal, is the fact 'of its being strongly inflected by religious identity and a presumptive association with a hostile neighbour, Pakistan.' The legacy of the Partition of British-India endures in the disputed status of over 2,000 properties, scattered across India. Nikita writes for the Research Section of focusing on the intersections between colonial history and contemporary issues, especially in gender, culture, and sport. For suggestions, feedback, or an insider's guide to exploring Calcutta, feel free to reach out to her at ... Read More
Pink Villa
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
How is Saif Ali Khan related to Bhopal's Nawab Hamidullah Khan's property and what's the dispute? Know MP HC's order
Saif Ali Khan and his family have suffered a big blow in the long-running dispute over his ancestral property of Bhopal's Nawab Hamidullah Khan. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a significant decision in the ongoing matter. A fresh hearing of the case has been ordered by the Jabalpur Bench, and the final decision will decide what the Jewel Thief actor and his family get. What is the decision of the Jabalpur Bench? According to reports by India TV, the Jabalpur Bench has cancelled the 25-year-old decision given by the Bhopal trial court and ordered a fresh hearing of the case. The order requests that the court render a new decision on the property dispute within one year. How is this property related to Saif Ali Khan? The property in question belongs to Saif Ali Khan's great-grandmother, Sajida Sultan. What is the dispute all about? Earlier, the trial court had given the entire property to Sajida Sultan (great-grandmother) of Saif Ali Khan. She is the daughter of the Nawab's elder Begum. The dispute started when other heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan challenged the court's decision. They demanded an equitable division of property under Muslim Personal Law. According to High Court Lawyer Harshit Bari, this case will now be heard again, and the new decision will decide who will get the rights to Nawab's property worth billions and how much. Saif Ali Khan's work front Talking about his work front, Saif was last seen in Netflix's thriller film Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins. It also starred Jaideep Ahlawat in a pivotal role. He has a couple of exciting films in his kitty now. He has Go Goa Gone 2, which is directed by Raj & DK alongside Abhishek Banerjee and Radhika Madan in the lead roles. Apart from this, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan are set to reunite after 17 years for an exciting thriller directed by Priyadarshan. The film has been officially titled Haiwaan, meaning beast in English, if sources close to Hindustan Times are to be believed. It is said to promise an edge-of-the-seat experience.
