Nayana Pujari’s Husband ‘At Peace’ As Rapists Get Death Penalty

Nayana Pujari’s husband opens up about his fight get justice for his wife who was gang raped and murdered in 2009.

Nayana Pujari (L); Abhijit Pujari with second wife Rajashree and daughter. (Photo courtesy: Abhijit Pujari)

“I want a wife who accepts me with Nayana,” said Abhijit Pujari to his second wife when he first met her in an arranged marriage setting two years after his first wife, Nayana, a 28-year-old software engineer was abducted, gang raped and bludgeoned to death by four men near Pune in 2009.

A photograph of Nayana and Abhijit Pujari, childhood sweethearts since class eight after their marriage. (Photo courtesy: Abhijit Pujari) 

Since then, the couple has not only hoped to get justice for the slain engineer, they have also fought the legal battle together, patiently facing the torments of their relatives and society at large.

‘At Peace Finally, Yet Society Still Ostracises’

“The society has been looking at us like we were in the wrong. They discriminate, treat us like outcasts,” said Rajashree, Abhijit’s second wife, while speaking to The Quint, “We have a two and a half-year-old daughter, and our neighbours don’t allow their children to play with her. She’s too little to understand the reason behind this discrimination. When she comes to me asking why the kids won’t be friends with her, I try and make up reasons, tell her that I’ll play with her. And during summers, I make her join camps and summer classes so she’s busy.”

Abhijit loves Nayana, even today, although he has been a devoted husband to me and a loving father to his children. He cannot forget Nayana. She was an inspiration him. They knew each other since they were adolescents, in class eight. He tells me how she was a brilliant student, how she got him on track, got him more focused on his career. And when the time was right, they tied the knot; but soon, Nayana was gone.

Rajashree, Abhijit’s second wife

Abhijeet with his second wife, Rajashree and his daughter. (Photo courtesy: Abhijit Pujari)

After a Pune sessions court awarded death penalty to three of the four accused in the Nayana Pujari gangrape and murder case on Tuesday, Abhijit said that he was finally “at peace.” He says that the crime deserved death, and anything less would have been gross injustice. It was just a matter of time before the verdict was pronounced, he believes, and now it has.

“The only thing that sours this verdict for me is the fourth accused, who turned approver, being let off. I don’t understand the legal intricacies, but I do know that a crime is a crime. He should have at least been convicted, given the minimum punishment of seven years. Since the accused have already been in custody for seven years as undertrials, the sentence would have nullified. But he should have at least been declared as a rapist and a murderer. Amidst such a staunch message sent out by the Pune court via three death penalties, I fear that his release makes room for encouragement of such criminal behaviour,” said Abhijit.

Nayana Pujari was gangraped and murdered in Pune by four men in 2009. (Photo courtesy: Abhijit Pujari)

Seven and a Half Years of Struggle

Abhijit, for the past seven and a half years, has been running from pillar to post to get Nayana the justice she deserves. A common man, who had no knowledge of the workings of judicial processes, Abhijit has been constantly following up with investigators and public prosecutors on Nayana’s case. The seriousness amongst authorities, he says, is little considering the gravity of crimes as depraved as gangrapes and murders.

When Yogesh Raut (a prime accused in the case) fled from custody in 2011, all my faith collapsed. Further, very little was done to trace him. My family and I organised silent vigils, approached the police commissioner, other authorities, and only then a team was set up to locate him. He was found only two years later. Was the onus on me to push the cops to do their job? No. It was their job, but like I said, the seriousness wasn’t there. Nirbhaya’s tragedy had made the headlines soon after, and yet, the cops were reluctant to take his escape seriously. This lack of seriousness is the only reason why we have delays at every stage of our investigations and judicial processes.

Abhijit Pujari

Abhijit’s family continuously held silent vigils and knocked on all possible doors to facilitate the recent death penalty to three out of four rapists. (Photo courtesy: Abhijit Pujari)

But the years of struggle, he feels now, have borne fruit. Content with the court’s verdict, Abhijit now wants to establish a Nayana Pujari Trust to provide financial and legal assistance to other such victims and their families.

“Being a layman, I had to face a lot of hardships – knocking on doors of various authorities, not knowing who would help, not knowing if they would help at all, making sense of the legal course, among so many other things. And now that Nayana has got justice, I wish to open a Trust that equips victims with the legal and financial power to deal with the aftermath of such brutalities. Often, a lack of legal knowledge and financial aid makes it difficult for victims to survive their tragedies, and I don’t want these things to be the reasons why a woman is deprived of the justice she merits,” said Abhijit.

“Nayana and I, we wanted to create a world of our own, you know,” he added softly, “But after that fateful evening, this world was torn to shreds. Everything was lost, that evening. I often thought of giving up my own life thereafter, but I stayed on for her, to get her justice. That was the last bit of inspiration she gave me, the one that cost her life, and the one that altered mine forever.”

(Puja Changoiwala is a journalist, and author of the critically-acclaimed True Crime book, 'The Front Page Murders: Inside the Serial Killings that Shocked India.')