The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a ban on the circulation of author Arundhati Roy’s book Mother Mary Comes to Me, with the cover picture showing her smoking a cigarette , reported Bar and Bench .

A division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji ruled that the petition appeared to be filed for self-publicity.

“Courts must ensure that PIL is not misused as a vehicle for self-publicity or for engaging in personal slander,” The Indian Express quoted the bench as saying. “The petitioner has chosen to file this PIL only to garner self-publicity and to cast personal aspersions on respondent Arundhathi Roy. We agree.”

The book was released on August 28.

The petitioner, a lawyer, alleged that the book cover vi

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