The complainant, Amar Kaur, had also said the two were once classmates in Panjab University.

Justice Sunil Gaur excused himself from hearing the case and directed the HC Registry to forward the matter to another Bench after taking instructions from Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah.

He urged for the case to be taken up on the date already scheduled — February 26 — to avoid any delay in hearing.

“List before another Bench on the date already fixed — February 26, 2009 — after obtaining orders from the Honourable Chief Justice. Both sides are to be informed of this matter being listed before another Bench in advance,” Justice Gaur bowed out in his single-paragraph order.

Amar Kaur had on January 2 written to Justice Gaur asking him to withdraw from the case. She reasoned that she had lost faith in the Bench after enquiries showed that Justice Gaur and Saini were friends and classmates during their Masters’ programme in History at Panjab University, Chandigarh.

She had sent copies of the letter to the Chief Justice of India as well as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

Saini and three other Punjab police officials are facing criminal proceedings in a case in which three persons went missing from a Ludhiana police station 14 years ago.

Kaur is the mother of Vinod Kumar, one of the three victims.

To authenticate her claim, Kaur had annexed a copy of the exam result sheets in which it was shown that both the judge and Saini allegedly had roll numbers close to each other. She revealed in her missive that they were both from Chandigarh, and it was “apparent” that there was a partisanship shown in favour of Saini.