The Kerala High Court recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought to prevent the sale of Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy’s latest book, Mother Mary Comes To Me. The controversy centered on the book’s cover, which features an image of the author smoking a beedi.
The initial complaint, lodged by a lawyer, argued that the book violated Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2013, by not displaying a statutory health warning about smoking. However, it was later confirmed that the book does indeed carry a written disclaimer on its back cover regarding the harmful effects of smoking.
The cover page of the book
During the hearing, a Division Bench, presided over by Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, emphasized that such matters of statutory infringement should first be addressed by the steering committee established under the Act. The court noted that the petitioner had been made aware of this committee but chose not to pursue the issue through the proper channels.
The High Court ultimately dismissed the petition, highlighting that it was filed without thoroughly examining the legal provisions or verifying the presence of a disclaimer on the book’s back cover. The court cautioned against using PILs for self-promotion or personal attacks, stressing the importance of upholding legal due process.
The petitioner’s counsel had previously argued that the existing disclaimer was insufficient and should have been more prominently displayed. They contended that a cover image featuring smoking, without an obvious warning, could send a detrimental message to young, impressionable individuals.
Counsel for the Central government further suggested that complaints related to tobacco product advertisements could also be registered via an online portal under the national tobacco control program. These avenues, it was argued, should have been explored before directly approaching the High Court with a PIL.