The Kerala High Court on Monday (October 13, 2025) dismissed 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 beedi.

The lawyer-petitioner had contended that the book did not have any statutory health-hazard warning label regarding smoking 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. Later, it emerged that there was a written disclaimer regarding the ill-effects of smoking, at the back of the book.

While hearing the petition on Monday, a Di

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