Woman punched and kicked in face on Queens subway by man with history of anti-Muslim attacks
Published in News & Features
NEW YORK — A 55-year-old Muslim woman was attacked by a stranger on a Queens train after he repeatedly asked her, “Where are you from?” police said Thursday.
The victim was on a westbound E train entering the 75th Ave. station on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills around 4 a.m. Wednesday, when Naved Durrni, 34, approached her, cops said.
“Where are you from?” Durrni, who was wearing a surgical mask, asked as he pestered her with questions. “Who are you? Are you Muslim?”
When the woman said she was Muslim, Durrni ruthlessly attacked her, punching and slapping her in the face, head and neck repeatedly and kicking her in the face, according to the criminal complaint against him. The onslaught left the woman with a broken nose and a fractured orbital bone, as well as bruises and swelling to her eye and neck, cops said.
Durrni fled the station and was apprehended about a mile away at Kew Gardens Road and 126th St., cops said.
Police charged him with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.
Durrni has a history of anti-Muslim attacks.
In June 2021 he assaulted a Muslim couple as they walked near Liberty Ave. and Lefferts Blvd. in South Richmond Hill, punching a 31-year-old man in the back and tugging on a 24-year-old woman’s hijab, punching her in the arm while screaming anti-Muslim statements at both of the victims, the Daily News previously reported.
An hour later he attacked another Muslim couple, punching a 56-year-old woman in her face repeatedly and breaking her nose. Also in 2021, he followed a 38-year-old woman on Sutphin Blvd., near 94th Ave. in Jamaica, flashing a knife and yelling anti-Muslim slurs, cops said.
Durni was convicted of aggravated harassment in September 2022 in Queens, according to the complaint in his most recent assault.
He was remanded without bail. His next court appearance is June 26 in Queens Criminal Court.
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