New Delhi, April 10 (IANS): The CBSE on Tuesday announced April 27 as the rescheduled date to conduct class 10 and 12 exams in Punjab, which had to be cancelled due to 'Bharat Bandh' in the state.

"The board's Class 10 and 12 examinations scheduled on April 2 could not be conducted in the state of Punjab due to Bharat Bandh and had to be cancelled," the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said in a statement.

"It has now been decided to conduct the cancelled examinations on April 27 (Friday)," it said.

The exams of French, Sanskrit, and Urdu Course-B for class 10 and Hindi elective, Gujarati, Nepali, Kashmiri, and Hindi Core for class 12, now will be held on April 27.

The countrywide shutdown 'Bharat Bandh' was launched by agitators from several Dalit outfits who had opposed the Supreme Court judgement which ruled there would be no automatic arrest of an accused following a complaint moved under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The protesters had called for the shutdown alleging that the ruling, if implemented, will dilute the Act.