Guwahati, Sept. 8: Accusing the Mukut Mithi government of trying to negate customary laws, the All-Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) today demanded a referendum on the new Arunachal Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act.

The AAPSU raised the demand a day after the North East Students’ Organisation, a federation of regional student unions, endorsed its stand on the issue.

The AAPSU has called a 24-hour bandh on September 18 in protest against the legislation and hinted that it will move the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on its implementation.

“Arunachal Pradesh is considered one of the peaceful states of the Northeast and does not have any terrorist organisation or any history of organised criminal activity, so much so that the state has till date not felt the need for a jail. Of what use then is the Arunachal Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act?” AAPSU general secretary Maji Marging said.

The student leader said vesting the police with “blanket powers” would not only destroy the democratic polity of Arunachal Pradesh, but also turn it into “a police state”. He warned that the Act would be used to target political opponents, non-governmental organisations and pressure groups.

“As the powers of the executive and judiciary have not been bifurcated in Arunachal Pradesh, there is every possibility of the Act being used to settle political scores.”

Citing an example of the Congress government’s double standards, Marging said the very government that had opposed the Prevention of Terrorism Act had taken the contradictory step of enacting a law that was “as harsh and biased as the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act”.

On the presence of militants of both factions of the NSCN in the two districts of Tirap and Changlang, the AAPSU leader said, “It reflects the Mithi government’s failure to maintain law and order despite invoking the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act”.

Charging the government with “patronising” members of the NSCN (Khaplang) to “muffle the voices of its political opponents”, Marging said the militant Arunachal Dragon Force had actually been created by the administration to justify the Control of Organised Crime Act.

AAPSU president Dominic Tadar said the student community would mobilise the support of the “peace-loving people of our state” for the campaign against the Act, which was passed by the Assembly on August 23.

The legislation, which has a lifespan of 10 years, provides for preventive detention without bail of suspected terrorists. It makes confessions to senior police officers admissible as legal evidence in the trial court.

Allaying fears that the legislation would be misused, the chief minister had said some organisations were unnecessarily making a hue and cry over it.