Overview

• The PIL by advocate Rajasimhan seeks to halt sale and withdraw Arundhati Roy’s ‘Mother Mary Comes To Me’, alleging the cover image violates COTPA for lacking statutory health warnings.
• Penguin Random House India filed an affidavit showing a back-cover notice stating the depiction of smoking is representational and that the publisher does not endorse tobacco use.
• The bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji rebuked the petitioner for not inspecting the book or disclosing the disclaimer, and raised questions about the PIL’s maintainability.
• The court asked whether the petitioner would approach the authority designated under COTPA and listed the case for further hearing on October 7.
• The publisher argued a still photo on a book cover is not tobacco advertising, cited multiple Indian book covers with smoking images, and sought exemplary costs against the petitioner.