A Southeast Queens man is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with assault in the first degree as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly punching and kicking a Muslim woman on an E train in Forest Hills during the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 18.
Naved Durrni, 34, of 106th Avenue in Jamaica, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday and additionally charged with aggravated harassment in the first and second degrees.
Durrni was previously convicted of aggravated harassment in June 2021 for attacking Muslims in a separate hate crime incident.
According to the charges and the investigation, on June 18, at approximately 4 a.m. at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 75th Avenue, a 55-year-old woman was riding a Queens-bound E train when Durrni approached her and asked her where she was from and if she was a Muslim.
The woman, who was wearing a hijab, told Durrni she was a Muslim. The defendant allegedly slapped and punched her in the face multiple times and kicked the woman in the face with his heavy Timberland work boots. Durrni then fled the train at the 75th Avenue subway station.
The woman suffered a fracture to her nasal bone, a fracture to her orbital bone, and substantial pain, bruising, and swelling. EMS rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was listed in serious but stable condition.
After a brief canvas by police, Durrni was taken into custody without further incident at 126th Street and Kew Gardens Road, about a mile south of the crime scene, closer to Jamaica.
“Bigotry, hate, and violence against the Muslim community or any community that faces discrimination will be met with serious consequences from my office,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “The defendant, as alleged, approached a woman on the E train and senselessly assaulted her simply because of her faith. Our diversity is our strength, and my office will prosecute those who seek to undermine it through hate or violence.”
Queens Criminal Court Judge Michael Katz remanded Durrni into custody without bail. If convicted of the top charge, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) strongly condemned the anti-Muslim attack on the woman on the E train.
“Our subways must be safe for every New Yorker, regardless of faith, race, or background. We condemn this vicious attack against a Muslim woman, as it is simply heartbreaking and infuriating,” CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, Esq., said in a statement. “We commend the bystanders and MTA personnel who took swift action, and we thank law enforcement for pursuing hate crime charges. We also pray for our sister’s full recovery from this horrifying trauma.”
Durrni has a history of violence against Muslim people. In September 2022, he was convicted of aggravated harassment for a series of assaults in June 2021.
On June 20, 2021, Durni approached a couple walking near Liberty Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard in Ozone Park and struck the 31-year-old man without provocation and continued his attack by pulling on the 24-year-old woman’s hijab while shouting anti-Muslim slurs, including “Muhammad was a liar.”
About an hour later, Durrni encountered another couple walking on Inwood Street in Jamaica and began to follow them. He yelled anti-Muslim rhetoric and punched the 56-year-old woman in the face and head. The victim sustained a fractured nose and was treated at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
Five days later, Durrni intentionally bumped a 38-year-old woman who was wearing traditional Muslim clothing onto Sutphin Boulevard. into the street. When the woman tried to call 911 on her cell phone, Durrni pulled out a knife and pointed it at the woman and threatened her before fleeing the scene.
He turned himself in at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica on July 27, 2021, after seeing images of himself on newscasts about the investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
