Retired judges, advocates, artists join hands to tackle burning issue of farm fires

Retired judges, practising lawyers and artists came together for Khoj International Artists’ Association and Zuleikha Chaudhari’s unique “staged hearing” on stubble burning at the Open Hand monument on Sunday

Retired judges, practising lawyers and artists came together for Khoj International Artists’ Association and Zuleikha Chaudhari’s unique “staged hearing” on stubble burning at the Open Hand monument on Sunday.

Retired judges participating in the staged hearing on stubble-burning at the Open Hand monument in Chandigarh. (Keshav Singh/HT )

The fictional case, filed by Khoj International Artists’ Association and Zuleikha Chaudhari, New Delhi, indicted the Union of India through the ministry of environment, the respective state stakeholders, and a fictitious farmer’s union for their inability to stop stubble-burning in areas of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

The hearing staged the arguments put forth by the three parties considering fundamental issues that placed both the human and non-human in polluted ecosystems.

Conceived by Khoj International Artists’ Association and artist Zuleikha Chaudhari, in collaboration with lawyer Harish Mehla, the staged hearing was the fourth iteration of Khoj’s programme “Does the Blue Sky Lie?: Testimonies of Air’s Toxicities”.

The event was held in association with the Nagina Bains and Sukant Deepak-founded Elsewhere.