Plea in Kerala HC against Arundhati Roy's book cover showing her smoking

Kochi, Sep 18 (PTI) A plea in the Kerala High Court has urged it to prohibit sale, circulation and display of Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy's book -- 'Mother Mary Come to Me' -- with its present cover where she is shown smoking a cigarette without the statutory health warning.

A bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji on Thursday asked the central government to inform the court whether there was any agency or mechanism to deal with such issues and listed the matter for further hearing on September 25.

The public interest litigation (PIL) was moved by a Kochi-based lawyer, Rajasimhan, who has contended that the cover page image sends out a "damaging message" to society, especially to girls and women, by "glorifying" the act of smoking.

The petitioner has claimed that "glorification of smoking" by an eminent author like her amounts to creating a false belief that such acts "enhance intellectual creativity".

"The cover image of the author of the book smoking a cigarette conveys a thoroughly misleading and unhealthy message to the impressionable youth that smoking is fashionable, intellectually stimulating and intrinsically associated with creativity," the plea has said.

He further contended in the plea that the image is also in violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA), 2003.

The Act prohibits both direct and indirect advertisements of cigarettes and tobacco products, unless accompanied by the prescribed statutory health warnings, the plea has said.

The image, without any statutory health warning, amounts to indirect advertisement and promotion of smoking and tobacco products, it has also said.

Besides prohibiting sale, circulation and display of the book with its current cover, the plea has also sought withdrawal of all of its copies from the market.

It has also sought a declaration that publication of the book with the current cover image and without the statutory health warning, "is illegal and violative of COTPA".

At the same time, the petitioner has made it clear that his plea was not concerned about the content and substance of the book. PTI HMP HMP KH