Tokyo, Japan - A private school has said it has refused to accept a son of the doomsday cult leader convicted over the Tokyo subway attack, whose daughter won a discrimination suit in a similar case.
The 12-year-old second son of Aum Supreme Truth founder Shoko Asahara passed the entrance exam, but the school asked him to decline admission "voluntarily" when they learned of his father, the principal said.
The junior high school in Saitama prefecture in Tokyo's suburbs returned through a court the fees the boy had paid, but the child's guardian has refused to take it and filed a lawsuit.
"This is a small, private school," principal Hideki Yaguchi told AFP.
"It is also located on the Hibiya subway line and local residents and students' parents are very sensitive" about the group, Yaguchi said.
Asahara, who preached of a coming apocalypse, was convicted of ordering the cult to spread Nazi-invented sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway system, including the Hibiya line, in 1995, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.
The 51-year-old former acupuncturist was sentenced to death in 2004 for the subway attack and other crimes that claimed a total of 27 lives.
The boy filed a complaint with the Tokyo District Court demanding 50 million yen (425,000 dollars) in compensation, Jiji Press reported.
"He was discriminated against for a baseless reason and forced to give up on his life goal which he had tried to achieve by going to the school," the boy's representative was quoted saying by the news agency.
Asahara's daughter had filed a similar suit, saying Wako University retracted her admission after finding out about her father. The Tokyo District Court in February sided with her and awarded her compensation.
Asahara, who preached a unique blend of Buddhist and Hindu dogma, is appealing the death sentence.
The Tokyo High Court landed him a major setback last month, refusing to accept a document explaining the appeal.
Asahara's lawyers had missed a deadline to submit the papers, saying they could not talk to the guru as he only mumbled nonsense.