[3] It received this name from the Hindi language word "bawan" (52) since this area was a grouping of 52 villages, 17 in Narela, 17 in Karala, 6 in Palam and 12 directly under Bawana, with 5,200 bighas of agricultural land.

During the 1996-98 rule of Jat Chief Minister of Delhi Sahib Singh Verma, it was turned into an office of Patwari, hence the zail fortress also came to be known as "Bawana Tehsil".

In the courtyard, the extreme corner on the left has two rooms that were used as jail by the Jat zaildar to imprison those zamidars who defaulted on their zamindari land tax.

It saw minor restorations in 2004 and again in 2010 for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, though the earlier 2004 plan to convert it into a monument for the Indian independence freedom fighters did not materialise.

In February 2017 major restoration by the State Archeology department of the Government of Delhi eventually commenced, using original construction material of that era, including a concrete preparation with 23 ingredients including lime, surki (trass), jaggery, bael fruit (wood apple) pulp and urad ki daal (paste of vigna mungo pulse).