India: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition against Arundhati Roy’s latest book ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’ over its cover which shows her smoking a cigarette allegedly without the mandatory health warning.
The petitioner moved the Court against an October 13 verdict of the Kerala High Court which had dismissed the plea.
The petitioner contended that the cover photo amounted to a violation of Section 5 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 which regulates advertisements of tobacco products.
However, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that Roy has not promoted or advertised smoking and the viewership of the book is restricted to those who will buy the book and read it.
Hence, there is no violation of any law, the top court said.
“Her literary work does not constitute any violation of Section 5 of the 2003 act. We see no reason to interfere with the High Court order. SLP dismissed,” the apex court ordered.
It also cautioned the petitioner against filing such petitions for publicity.
“She is a renowned author. She has not promoted such a thing. There is a warming in the book and she is a prominent person as well. Why to do such a thing for publicity? There is no hoarding in the city with the picture of the book. It is for someone who will take the book and read it. Her picture with it does not portray any such a thing. Book, publisher or author has nothing to do with advertising for cigarettes etc. This is not an advertisement. You may disagree with the views of the author but that does not mean such a case can lie,” the Court said.
The petition, a public interest litigation (PIL), was filed before the High Court by advocate Rajasimhan contending that the image of the author smoking a cigarette glorifies it as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression.
Rajasimhan clarified that he was not challenging the contents or the literary substance of the book.
According to the plea, the book is accessible to all and has the potential to send a misleading message to the impressionable youth, particularly teenage girls and women that smoking is fashionable.
The petitioner contended that such depiction is violative of the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003’ (COTPA) and the 2008 Rules.
He thus prayed for directions to restrain the author and the publisher from further circulating or selling the book with the alleged cover picture.
However, Penguin Random Book House of India, the publisher of the book, argued before the High Court that the petitioner was misrepresenting the provisions of the statute as it focuses solely on the prohibition of advertisements of cigarettes. They submitted that although depictions of smoking on book covers is not covered by COTPA, they had voluntarily added a disclaimer in the book stating that the depiction is not intended to promote smoking.
