Following online backlash, ex-top cop Bhaskar Rao makes a U-turn after praising lawyer who threw shoe at CJI

Bengaluru: Former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao was bashed online after he expressed admiration towards lawyer Rakesh Kishore who hurled a shoe at Chief Justice of India BR Gawai.

Rao, a BJP leader, later said sorry when his admiration tweet went viral, earning the wrath of netizens.

“Even if it is legally & terribly wrong, I admire your courage, at your age, to take a stand and live by it, irrespective of consequences [sic],” Rao said in a tweet responding to a handle impersonating Kishore.

Rao was responding to @RakeshKishore_l who wrote: “No regret, no sorrow, no repentance!"

After Rao faced heavy fire, the former IPS officer tendered an apology.

“My reaction was one of aghast and shock that a person, despite being so highly educated, aged and experienced such an action knowing fully the consequences of a terribly and legally wrong act [sic], I have not insulted the Supreme Court, nor Chief Justice or any community. If my tweet has angered or hurt, I am sorry,” Rao wrote.

In 2022, Bhaskar Rao was an additional director-general of police when he resigned from service and joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In March 2023, Rao switched to the BJP. At the time, Rao hailed BJP as “the only party that believes in upholding the tenets of Sanatana Dharma”.

Kishore, the lawyer who threw a shoe at Gawai, said he would not tolerate any “insult to Sanatan”.

In the 2023 Assembly election, Rao was the BJP’s candidate from Chamarajpet. He lost to Congress’ BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan by 53,953 votes.