Overview

• A division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji rejected a petition seeking to halt the sale and display of Mother Mary Comes To Me over its cover photo of Roy smoking.
• The court held that questions under Section 5 of COTPA require factual assessment by the designated expert body and fall outside the High Court’s extraordinary PIL jurisdiction.
• Judges noted Penguin Random House India had printed a disclaimer on the back cover and said the petitioner failed to verify this or even fully examine the book.
• The bench criticized the litigant for using the PIL for self-publicity and casting personal aspersions, warning against misuse of the remedy.
• The Centre’s counsel pointed to complaint routes through the COTPA Steering Committee or the National Tobacco Control Programme portal, and no restriction on the book’s sale was ordered as a detailed judgment is awaited.