Arundhati Roy. (File photo/PTI)
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday said a photograph of author Arundhati Roy smoking a ‘bidi’ on her book cover does not infringe the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), and hence, there is no requirement of a statutory warning.Senior advocate S Gopakumaran, appearing for appellant Rajasimhan, challenged a Kerala HC decision not to entertain his plea for publication of a statutory warning under the cover page photograph, and said it was as much a publicity stunt as defiance of the 2003 Act.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, “The author is an eminent person who has a name in the literary world. The publishing house too is an eminent one. They do not need publicity. The book does not promote tobacco products. What is your problem?”“The photograph (on the cover page of the book) is not a hoarding in the city to be equated with advertisement requiring the accompanying statutory warning. Readers do not buy a book by its cover photograph. They do so after finding who the author is,” the bench said. Gopakumaran said a public figure publishing a book with a photograph prominently displaying her smoking tobacco is going to encourage youngsters, which is detrimental to society. The bench said, “There is a disclaimer at the back cover clarifying the cover page does not promote smoking. The photograph on the book’s front cover is not an advertisement of tobacco products and would not infringe the 2003 Act.”
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