Kerala HC Petition Seeks Health Warning on Arundhati Roy Memoir Cover

A public interest litigation filed in the Kerala High Court on September 18, seeks a ban on the sale, circulation, and display of Arundhati Roy’s memoir 'Mother Mary Comes to Me' without a statutory health warning.

The petition, filed by advocate Rajasimhan, names the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Press Council of India, Kerala’s Health Department, the book’s publisher Penguin India, and Roy herself as respondents.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji has posted the matter for September 25, directing the Union Government to file a reply.

Rajasimhan has also urged the Union and state governments to issue a public notification declaring the book’s sale, circulation, and display—whether in stores or online—illegal until the case is resolved.

The petition argues that the depiction of smoking on the cover without the mandated health warning, and its presentation as a symbol of intellectual or creative expression, violates provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.

“In disregard of the settled legal principles, the cover page of the book prominently depicts the celebrity author smoking a cigarette, without any statutory warning such as smoking is injurious to health or tobacco causes cancer,” the petitions says.