THRISSUR: Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph on Saturday criticized the rising social tendency to distort and subjectively approach the truth.

The purpose of law is to achieve justice, which in its core level is truth. The very symbol of the blindfolded Lady of Justice suggested the neutral approach of the law to all issues, he said, adding that there was a growing trend to approach even constitutional issues subjectively. Members of the legal profession must adhere to the truth whatever be the cost, he said.

Justice Joseph, who ran into a controversy after objecting to the decision of Chief Justice H L Dattu to call a judges conference on Good Friday, made the observations while speaking at a function organized by the alumni association of the Government Law College here.

Citing a recent experience, he said the media created an impression that he had conducted a press conference to air his views on holding the judges conference on Good Friday.

"The channels were using a file clipping of an earlier interaction with the media when I was the chairman of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority, and giving a voice over, creating an impression that I was holding another press conference. I'm aware of the constitutional importance of the position I'm holding and I know the limits. I just raised an issue and left it at that. But watching the TV many of my friends thought I had conducted a press conference, which I had not done," Justice Joseph said.

Emphasising the importance of teacher-student relations in the field of law, he said students must be able to respect the teacher as a guru and the teacher, in turn, must be able to approach students with the affection and concern as towards a disciple. Only then will a culture of respecting truth prevail in the legal profession, he said.