Mumbai: The petitioner who had gone to court objecting to the image of author Arundhati Roy smoking a cigarette on the cover of her latest book had ashes on his own face on Thursday.

The Kerala High Court flagged some serious shortcomings in the PIL that argued that the image glorified tobacco as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression. His plea complained that the image was not accompanied by any health warning about the ill effects of smoking tobacco.

A Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, however, noted that petitioner Rajasimhan, a lawyer, had failed to disclose the fact that the publisher had included a disclaimer about smoking on the back side of the book.

"What is this, counsel? You should file a petition disclosing that at least such a disclai

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