PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 8 -- The Allahabad high court has held that a subsequent formal arrest and remand cannot legitimise an earlier illegal detention, applying the US legal doctrine of "fruit of the poisonous tree" to constitutional safeguards under Articles 21 and 22. A division bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev ordered the release of Prayagraj resident Ravi Chaurasiya, who was kept in police custody for nearly 31 hours before being formally arrested. The court also awarded him Rs.30,000 compensation, to be recovered from those responsible, and directed the Prayagraj commissioner to conduct an inquiry and fix responsibility. Chaurasiya was taken into custody from Ayodhya on September 14 and brought to Soraon police station, but his arrest was not recorded. His mother approached the high court with a habeas corpus petition on September 15. Police formally arrested him at 10:45 am on September 16 and produced him before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody. In its September 28 judgment, the court rejected the SHO's explanation that failure to record his detention in the general diary was an inadvertent mistake. It held that the initial illegal detention was the "poisonous tree", while the subsequent arrest and remand were its "fruit" and therefore also vitiated. The court, however, said police could re-arrest Chaurasiya in accordance with law and Supreme Court safeguards. htc...