Passenger recalls mid-air horror in flight she shared with Asaram Bapu

Mumbai: Recounting the harrowing experience she had to go through onboard an Jet Airways flight which was also flying the controversial godman Asaram Bapu, Dessidre Fleming, a media professional has revealed that the airlines officials and the swami’s ‘bhakts’, broke several protocols putting the lives of other passengers at risk.

For starters, the flight, which was originally scheduled for 10.30 am, was delayed by over 3 hours, and no explanation was given, revealed Dessidre, writing for a website. The long wait ended abruptly at around 2.00 pm, when Asaram Bapu was wheeled onto the base of the flight. “Those boarding Jaipur-Delhi flight, please form a line,” the support staff reportedly called out. But ordeals of Dessidre and the 60 odd passengers in the aircraft were far from over.

The usual in-flight instructions were not given by the airhostesses, and the air conditioning was switched off. The evasive cabin crew initially claimed that there were some technical difficulties, but on further probing, confessed that it was the godman’s presence that did the trick.

“Ma’am, he is 89 years old and they are saying he is unwell, one of the flight attendants said. She seemed to understand the plight of the remaining 60 to 65 passengers but remained unable to do anything about it,” Dessidre wrote.

The ‘spiritual’ guru was accompanied by a retinue of followers who were unruly and had no in-flight decorum, she claimed, adding, “When sandwiches started being served, one of Asaram’s devotees actually had the audacity to ask the attendant, ‘How dare you serve non-vegetarian in this flight?’”

She also claimed that the ‘bhakts’ continuously laughed off the flight attendant’s requests to be seated and strap on the seat belts.

“Basically, the passengers in flight 9W 2552 were at the mercy of no one as all of Asaram’s whims were being prioritized, at the expense of the lives of the remaining flight passengers,” she writes with disgust, and claimed that on approaching the Customer Service Manager, she was not taken seriously.

Adding a final shocker, she wrote, “Beat this: A well-educated woman tells a passenger on the flight, ‘You should feel so lucky to be sitting in the aura of a saint.’”

"There is only one god and 65 passengers could very well have been on their way to that God had the turbulence carried on because the cabin crew did not administer instructions on how to save lives—basic protocol and one of the most basic parts of their job descriptions," she commented.

The incident occurred as Asaram, who is currently lodged in a Rajasthan jail, was being transferred to New Delhi after the Supreme Court permitted him to travel to AIIMS for treatment.

Asaram was arrested in September last for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram, and faces a slew of other sexual harassment cases against him.

Dessidre's Facebook post on the same episode