Kerala High Court Pulls Up Lawyer For PIL Against Arundhati Roy’s Book Cover Showing Her Smoking

Mumbai: The petitioner who had gone to court objecting to the image of author Arundhati Roy smoking a cigarette on the cover of her latest book had ashes on his own face on Thursday.

The Kerala High Court flagged some serious shortcomings in the PIL that argued that the image glorified tobacco as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression. His plea complained that the image was not accompanied by any health warning about the ill effects of smoking tobacco.

A Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, however, noted that petitioner Rajasimhan, a lawyer, had failed to disclose the fact that the publisher had included a disclaimer about smoking on the back side of the book.

"What is this, counsel? You should file a petition disclosing that at least such a disclaimer is there. When you file a PIL, how can you say you have not seen the book? What kind of PIL is this? We may impose exemplary costs," Chief Justice Jamdar remarked.

The Court took note of the disclaimer following submissions made by Penguin Random House India, the publisher of 'Mother Mary Comes To Me'.

Penguin has argued that the PIL was filed without proper research and without taking note of a disclaimer printed in the book's back cover, stating that the publisher does not endorse the use of tobacco. Penguin added that if the petitioner's arguments are accepted, it could threaten artistic works and amount to moral policing disguised as legal action.

Having taken note of this aspect, the court asked the petitioner if he wished to continue arguing his case in court or if he would want to approach the concerned government authority to resolve the issues raised by him. The court proceeded to post the case for further consideration on October 7.