Arundhati Roy’s 'Mother Mary Comes To Me' Sparks Row Over Depiction of Smoking in Cover

A petition has been filed in the Kerala High Court against the cover image of Arundhati Roy's new book, 'Mother Mary Comes to Me'. The petitioner claims that publishing a smoking image without a statutory warning is a violation of the law.

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has asked the Union government to respond to a petition challenging the cover of Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes To Me, which depicts the author smoking a bidi without carrying the mandatory health warning. The petition, filed by an advocate, seeks a ban on the book’s sale until the statutory label is included. When the case came up before Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, the petitioner argued that the cover violates provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2013.

Citing Section 5 of the Act, the petitioner claimed that the image amounts to both direct and indirect promotion of tobacco use, and described it as an act of “intellectual arrogance.” The Bench, however, observed that the petition did not include the specific rules dealing with indirect advertising and questioned whether the petitioner had first approached the authority empowered under the Act to determine such infringements. “Has the petitioner made any representation before the concerned authority? It is for that authority to decide whether this amounts to a violation,” LiveLaw reported the court as saying. The matter will be taken up again on September 25 after the petitioner seeks instructions regarding the appropriate authority under the Act.

What is the Book About?

Mother Mary Comes to Me is a collection of writings that explore the intersections of politics, society, and personal freedom. It explores the relationship of different people who are close to Arundhati Roy and examines pressing contemporary issues through her sharp and uncompromising lens such as the state of democracy, the environment, and struggles of marginalised communities. At its heart, the book reflects the author's long-standing commitment to dissent. She resists the comfortable silence of conformity and instead uses literature as a means of resistance. In doing so, she continues the tradition of writers who see their role not simply as storytellers but as voices of conscience. The book has been published by Penguin India.

The Guardian described the memoir as a meditation on the complex, sometimes contradictory nature of motherhood. According to the publication, the memoir shows how children learn to navigate, tolerate, and ultimately embrace life through their dependence on and understanding of this extraordinary maternal force.

Arundhati Roy is an internationally acclaimed Indian writer, essayist, and activist whose work blends literature with political insight. She rose to global prominence with her debut novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the prestigious Booker Prize and was translated into more than 40 languages. The novel, set in Kerala, explored caste, family, and forbidden love with lyrical prose and went on to establish Roy as one of the most original voices in contemporary literature. After the success of her first novel, Roy shifted her focus toward political writing, producing a series of essays that challenged state power, economic globalization, and social inequality. Some of her widely read non-fiction works include The Cost of Living (1999), Power Politics (2001), and War Talk (2003). These essays addressed issues ranging from displacement caused by large dams to India’s nuclear policies and global capitalism.

In 2017, two decades after her debut, Roy returned to fiction with The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the novel wove together the lives of marginalized communities, from transgender people to insurgents in Kashmir, offering a fragmented yet poetic portrait of modern India. Her subsequent collections, including My Seditious Heart (2019) and Azadi (2020), reinforced her reputation as a fearless critic of authoritarianism and a strong advocate for human rights, democracy, and environmental justice. Azadi was recently banned in Jammu and Kashmir for alleged promotion of separatism.