Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Thursday sought the Union government’s response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the cover of writer Arundhati Roy’s latest book, Mother Mary Comes to Me, which shows the author smoking a cigarette without the mandatory health warning.

The case was heard by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji. The petition contended that the image of Roy smoking glorifies it as a symbol of intellectual and creative expression. The petitioner clarified that he was not challenging the contents or literary substance of the book.

According to the petitioner, the book’s wide accessibility could send a misleading message to impressionable youth, particularly teenage girls and women, suggesting that smoking is fashionable.

"The said depiction amounts to advertisement of the book and indirect advertisement and promotion of smoking and tobacco products, particularly since Ms. Arundhati Roy is a globally renowned public intellectual, and her actions exert a strong influence over youth and the reading public, particularly the teenage girls and womenfolk who are still keeping aloof in the Indian society from openly and publicly displaying smoking and drinking habits," the petitioner contended.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench)