File picture of Arundhati Roy during the launch of her book ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’ in Kochi
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
The Supreme Court on Friday (December 5, 2025) dismissed a petition accusing author Arundhati Roy and her publisher Penguin Random House India (Hamish Hamilton) of glamorising tobacco use by featuring a photograph of her with a beedi on the front cover of her book Mother Mary Comes to Me to promote the work.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said neither the author nor the publisher required the photograph to advance the book in the market.
The court pointed out that the publisher has already used a disclaimer, clarifying that the cover photograph should not be viewed as an encouragement to smoke.
Cover page of Arundhati Roy’s memoir, ‘Mother Mary Comes To Me’
The Chief Justice asked the counsel for the petitioner, a lawyer named Rajasimhan, represented by senior advocate S. Gopakumaran Nair, whether he had read the book and had a different view about its contents.
Mr. Kumar said his client’s problem was restricted to the front cover, and for that, he had found researching the contents of the book unnecessary.
On statutory health warning
The senior counsel argued the disclaimer published did not amount to a statutory health warning.
“The statutory warning should be ‘tobacco causes cancer, tobacco kills’, and here there is a lady who is a celebrated author with a photograph on her book cover showing her enjoying a beedi. We do not know if it is a ganja beedi… It is just too much!” Mr. Kumar exclaimed.
Justice Bagchi said the photograph was not meant as an advertisement, requiring a statutory health warning.
“The disclaimer is not a statutory warning. The disclaimer is only meant to disabuse any person of a view that this picture of the author with a cigarette in her hand is to promote smoking. In short, the photograph is not an advertisement of a tobacco product which requires statutory warning,” Justice Bagchi reasoned.
Mr. Kumar contended the disclaimer was actually an “anticipatory bail” taken to protect the author and the publisher from legal consequences under Section 5(3) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA).
Justice Bagchi observed that the photograph was not used to promote the book in order to attract Section 5(3) of the COTPA.
The Kerala High Court had earlier dismissed the petition, asking the lawyer to approach the Steering Committee constituted under the COTPA with his concerns. On Friday, the CJI remarked the High Court had actually been “merciful” to the petitioner.
Dismissing the case, the Chief Justice noted that “both the author and the publisher are renowned names. They do not require the photograph to promote themselves”.
The petition had raised apprehensions that Ms. Roy’s actions would have a negative influence over the youth and the reading public, particularly the teenagers and women. It had argued that the photograph would make a considerable dent in nationwide anti-tobacco campaigns, including the National Tobacco Control Programme. It had sought the withdrawal of all copies of the book with the current cover and re-publish it without the photograph.
Published – December 05, 2025 01:06 pm IST
