Mother Mary Comes to Me: Kerala HC junks plea against Arundhati Roy’s smoking image on book cover

The Court also questioned the motive behind the petition, remarking that it appeared to have been filed more in publicity interest than in public interest

The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the cover of Arundhati Roy’s book ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me,’ which shows the author smoking a beedi.

The PILclaimed that the book cover glorified smoking as a mark of intellect and creativity. (Amazon)

While the PIL had claimed the book’s cover violated the law by not carrying a statutory health warning, a division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, however, said the petitioner had failed to disclose that the publisher had, in fact, included a smoking disclaimer on the back cover.

The bench also observed that the high court was not the appropriate forum to adjudicate such issues, since under the statutory scheme under the COTPA Act, 2003, they should be decided by “expert bodies” constituted under the Act, after hearing all “concerned parties.”

The Court also questioned the motive behind the petition, remarking that it appeared to have been filed more in publicity interest than in public interest.

“The petitioner, despite making him aware, has refused to take up the issue before the statutory authority, filed a petition without examining g relevant legal position, without verifying the necessary material, including the presence of disclaimer on the book, has sought to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under the guise of public interest. In light of these circumstances, keeping in mind the caution that courts must ensure that public interest litigation is not misused as a vehicle for self publicity or for engaging in personal slander, the writ petition is dismissed,” the Court said.

The PIL, filed last month by an advocate, Rajasimhan, claimed that the book cover glorified smoking as a mark of intellect and creativity. The petitioner had clarified though, that his objection was not to the book’s content or literary value, but to the image itself, which he claimed could mislead impressionable readers, especially young girls and women, into viewing smoking as fashionable.

The petitioner had urged the court to stop the sale and circulation of the book without the legally mandated health warnings displayed on all tobacco product packages in India under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), which include texts warning that smoking “kills” and “causes cancer,” etc.

Publisher Penguin Random House India had defended the cover and told the Court that the back cover carried a disclaimer stating that the photographic depiction of the author smoking a “beedi” was only “for representation purposes” and that the company did not endorse the use of tobacco.

The publisher had further contended that the PIL had been filed without proper research.