The Kerala High Court has requested a response from the Central government regarding a petition to stop the sale of Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy’s latest book, ‘Mother Mary Comes To Me’. The petition centers on the book’s cover, which features Roy smoking a bidi without the legally required health warning label.
The petitioner, Advocate Rajasimhan, labeled the cover photo an act of ‘intellectual arrogance.’ He argues that it infringes upon Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2013.
This particular section of the Act, Section 5 (1), explicitly prohibits individuals involved in the production, supply, or distribution of tobacco products from advertising them. It also forbids anyone controlling a media platform from allowing such advertisements, or participating in any advertisement that directly or indirectly encourages tobacco use or consumption.
Advocate Rajasimhan contends that by displaying Roy smoking, the image glamorizes tobacco use and conveys a detrimental, unhealthy message to young people, particularly teenage girls and women. He clarified that his concerns solely pertain to the book’s cover image, not its literary content.
A Division Bench, consisting of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, inquired whether the petitioner had contacted the appropriate authority under the Act to determine if the cover indeed constitutes a violation of the legislation. The court has scheduled further hearings on this matter for September 25.