Vahora v. Holder, No. 11-3189 (7th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseVahora is a Muslim citizen of India. In 2002, a train caught fire in Gujarat, India. Many Hindu pilgrims and activists were killed, and violence between Hindus and Muslims followed. Vahora testified that he and several Muslim friends were shot and that Hindu leaders continued to pursue him during the four years he remained in India before travelling to Guatemala, then to the U.S. He applied for asylum one year after arriving. An immigration judge ruled that, assuming the application was timely, and even accepting Vahora’s testimony as true, Vahora had not presented a cognizable claim of past persecution or shown that he had a well-founded fear of future persecution because he did not demonstrate that the Indian government was unable or unwilling to protect him. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed, finding that the persecution of which Vahora complains was not carried out by persons the government of India was unable or unwilling to control. The Seventh Circuit denied review, noting that Vahora never sought help from any authorities.
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