'Glamorises tobacco use': PIL against Arundhati Roy's new book cover in Kerala HC
KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the central 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 lawyer of the High Court, contended that the cover, which features the author smoking a cigarette without a statutory health warning, violates legal provisions.
The plea also sought a ban on the sale, circulation, and display of the book with the present cover design.
The petitioner made it clear that he is not concerned about, and has nothing to do with, the content and substance of the book. However, the display and depiction of smoking in the absence of the mandatory statutory health warning and in the form of glorification of smoking as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression, is in 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 statutory warning, such as “Smoking is injurious to health” or “Tobacco causes cancer," is mandatory under the Act.
According to him, the cover image of the author of the book smoking a cigarette, which is widely available in bookshops, libraries, digital platforms, and through promotional materials, thereby making it public, conveys a thoroughly misleading and unhealthy message to impressionable youth that smoking is fashionable, intellectually stimulating, and intrinsically associated with creativity.
The petition stated that the depiction amounts to advertisement of the book and indirect advertisement and promotion of smoking and tobacco products, particularly since Arundhati Roy is a globally renowned public intellectual, and her actions exert a strong influence over youth and the reading public, particularly the teenage girls and womenfolk who are still keeping aloof in the Indian society from openly and publicly displaying smoking and drinking habits.
He added that permitting such publications will defeat the purpose of nationwide anti-tobacco campaigns, including the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), and will set a dangerous precedent encouraging others, particularly the younger generation, to glamorise tobacco use.
The petitioner further sought a directive to the publisher to withdraw all copies of the book with the cover page from the market forthwith, and re-publish/re-circulate the book with a cover page that does not depict smoking or otherwise complies with COTPA, 2003.