Invoking poet Kahlil Gibran’s celebrated words, “Your children are not your children”, the Bombay High Court has held that children cannot be denied railway passes because of the circumstances of their birth. The court struck down a Railway Board circular that excluded children born from void marriages from the benefit, observing that “children are children” and cannot be discriminated against on the ground of their parents’ marital status.Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait M Sethna were hearing a petition filed by a Central Railway employee. The court set aside a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order dated October 9, 2018, which had upheld the denial of railway passes to his three children.In its concluding observations, the bench reproduced Gibran’s words: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”“The law does not envisage any distinction, let alone any discrimination qua children born out of void marriages, in the context of their right to be eligible for benefits including railway passes…children are children and the labels of illegitimate, etc is not what the law prescribes and or mandates, so as to deprive/deny the benefits to them, in the given factual matrix,” said the court on October 9.2 kids born in second wife as first marriage subsistedThe petitioner joined the railways as a Gangman in 2010 and was later appointed as a trackman. He married a woman on May 12, 2004, but the marriage ended in divorce by mutual consent on September 24, 2014. Later, he had three children with another woman. Their daughter was born on October 24, 2009, and their first son on April 21, 2012, while his first marriage was still subsisting. Their second son was born on February 10, 2016, after he divorced the first wife, but before he remarried in June 2016. Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait M Sethna ruled that children cannot be denied railway benefits due to the circumstances of their birth.The employee sought to include his second wife and children in his railway service records to enable them to be considered for railway passes, privilege ticket orders, medical facilities, tuition reimbursement, grants and nominations relating to service dues.Also Read | Windshield glare raises ‘safety concerns’, owner wins Rs 5 lakh from car companyIn a letter dated May 2, 2017, the railways accepted his wife’s inclusion in the records but denied railway passes to the children because they had been born before the marriage. The communication stated that eligibility for family pension would remain subject to applicable rules.Story continues below this adHe challenged the decision before the CAT in Mumbai. The tribunal dismissed his plea on October 9, 2018, focusing on the alleged breach of railway service conduct rules concerning marriage.Court invokes equality, children’s rightsThe high court examined the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986, Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act and Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. It also considered Supreme Court rulings concerning the legal protection available to children born from void marriages.The bench held that the applicable legal framework did not justify excluding children from railway-pass eligibility merely because of their parents’ marital circumstances. It found that the first two children were entitled to railway-pass benefits despite being born while the man’s first marriage was subsisting. The court also found no legal basis to deny the same eligibility to the third child, who was born after the divorce but before the second marriage.Depriving the third child of the benefit would amount to discrimination under Article 14, the court said.The ruling concerned the children’s eligibility for benefits. It did not automatically absolve the man of any separate consequences arising from a possible breach of service conduct rules.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Car ‘breaks down again’ after waterlogging fix, Army officer wins Rs 50,000, free repairThe bench struck down the Railway Board circular dated March 10, 2005, which excluded children born out of void marriages from railway passes. It also quashed the May 2, 2017, communication to the extent that it denied the children eligibility for railway passes and other benefits on the disputed ground. The high court directed the railways to reconsider his claims in light of its observations and in accordance with the law within two months of receiving a certified copy of the judgment.