By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed before the court by a lawyer on September 18, seeking a stay on the sale of Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy’s recently released book Mother Mary Comes To Me, whose cover photo shows her smoking a bidi.

Although he had alleged that it did not have any statutory health-hazard warning label and that this was a violation of Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2013 it emerged that there was a written disclaimer regarding the ill-effects of smoking at the back of the book.

During the hearing on Tuesday, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji orally observed that it would pronounce its verdict in the case on October 13. It added that the petitioner could approach the steering committee set up under the statutory law in this regard.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the disclaimer mentioned at the back of the book was insufficient and that it ought to have been published in a conspicuous manner. The Centre’s counsel submitted that apart from the steering committee, such complaints could be registered through an online portal set up under the national tobacco control programme. These options ought to have been tried out, rather than directly approach the High Court in the guise of a PIL.