Supreme Court Rejects Ban on Arundhati Roy's Memoir Over Smoking Cover Image

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking to ban acclaimed author Arundhati Roy's memoir, 'Mother Mary Comes to Me', dismissing claims that the cover image violated tobacco advertising regulations.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, determined that the book cover featuring Roy smoking was not intended to promote tobacco products, noting that a disclaimer on the back of the book made this clear.

"The book, the photograph, the publisher or the author, none of these persons have anything to do with promoting cigarettes. She is a renowned author. Even the publisher is renowned. It is not an advertisement for cigarettes," the Court stated in its observation.

In upholding the Kerala High Court's earlier decision, the Supreme Court found no violation of Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, which prohibits tobacco advertisement and promotion.

The petitioner had argued that the memoir's cover image showed Roy smoking without proper health warnings, and that the disclaimer positioned on the back cover was insufficient to address this concern.

However, the Supreme Court maintained that the image was not being used for commercial promotion on public hoardings or banners, but rather was limited to those interested in purchasing the literary work by the renowned author.

The Court verbally noted that the book cover was not displayed for commercial purposes across cities but was intended only for those interested in reading Roy's memoirs.

After brief arguments, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, affirming the Kerala High Court's earlier judgment that the cover image did not constitute promotion of cigarette smoking for commercial purposes.