Former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Kurian Joseph, has recently said that the Supreme Court’s motto “Yato Dharmastato Jayah” (Where there is Dharma, there is victory) should be removed.

He claimed that Dharma, as stipulated in the Hindu fold, is not always the truth and therefore, does not deserve to be the motto of the apex court. “The truth is the Constitution, Dharma – not always,” he was quoted as saying by LawBeat.

Justice Joseph was peaking at an event organised by the controversial portal The Wire.

He pointed out that when all High Courts across the country have adopted the motto “Satyameva Jayate”, there is no reason why the Supreme Court has chosen to keep the Dharmic notion, which is but a set of duties.

Justice Joseph had earlier compared Catholic Church to the preamble of the Constitution. “The Catholic Church is one that has always assimilated in itself all the traditions and cultures brought in by the believers from all over the world. This is similar to the preamble of our Constitution which starts with the word ‘We’,” he had said in December 2023.