Hindu man: School forced son to eat beef

CINCINNATI, June 14 (UPI) -- An Indian immigrant says his son was forced to violate Hindu dietary rules by eating a beef taco at a Cincinnati public school.

Ashish Gandhi has filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department alleging religious discrimination, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday. Gandhi, who says a school employee force-fed the taco to his son, called it an "intentional act of religious bigotry" by the Academy of World Languages.

Gary Winters, a lawyer for the Cincinnati Public Schools, says the 5-year-old boy selected the taco himself.

"At most, there was an error made on a single occasion, for which CPS's personnel and administrators have repeatedly apologized to Mr. Gandhi," he wrote.

The academy offers classes in English as a second language as well as a large number of other languages. Gandhi claims the school denied his son the services normally given non-English-speaking students.

Gandhi has transferred his son to a neighborhood school.