Kerala HC hears PIL against Arundhati Roy’s new book cover that “glamorises smoking”

The Kerala High Court on Thursday, September 18, ordered the Union government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the cover of Arundhati Roy's book Mother Mary Comes to Me.

The petitioner, Rajasimhan, a High Court lawyer, claimed that the cover, which shows the author smoking a cigarette without a statutory health warning, violated legal regulations.

The petition also requested that the book's current cover design not be sold, circulated, or displayed, reported The New Indian Express.

The petitioner stated unequivocally that he is not concerned with and that his petition has nothing to do with the book's content or substance.

However, displaying and depicting smoking in the absence of a mandatory statutory health warning, as well as glorifying smoking as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression, is a clear violation of the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COPTA).

The Act requires a statutory warning, such as "smoking is harmful to one's health" or "tobacco causes cancer."

According to him, the cover image of the book's author smoking a cigarette sends a misleading and hazardous message to impressionable youngsters, implying that smoking is fashionable, intellectually stimulating, and naturally associated with creativity.

The petition stated that the depiction is an advertisement for the book as well as an indirect advertisement and promotion of smoking and tobacco products, especially since Arundhati Roy is a globally renowned public intellectual, and her actions have a strong influence over youth and the reading public, particularly teenage girls and women, who are still forbidden in Indian society from openly and publicly displaying their smoking and drinking habits.

He noted that allowing such publications would undermine the goal of national anti-tobacco initiatives and set a hazardous precedent by encouraging others, particularly the younger population, to glorify tobacco use.

The petitioner further requested that the publisher pull all copies of the book with the cover page from the market immediately and republish/recirculate the book with a cover page that does not show smoking or otherwise conforms with COTPA, 2003.