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.