Panaji, Apr 19 (IANS): Forty National Students Union of India (NSUI) activists were detained by the Goa Police amid protests outside Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's official residence in Panaji, demanding scrapping of exams for Class X and XII due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the coastal state.

Reacting to the detention, Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said that the detention of students, when they were expressing concern over the pandemic, was unfair.

"Students expressing concern over risking life to Covid is not a crime. I condemn the act of @BJP4Goa Government of arresting students led by @NSUIGoa who were protesting to demand postponement of SSC & HSSC exams. @goacm must unconditionally release all of them immediately," Kamat said.

"Strongly condemn the act of @BJP4Goa @goacm of arresting SSC/HSSC students along with @NSUIGoa leaders while peacefully protesting with a demand to postpone exams due to rising cases of #Covid. @INCGoa strongly demands immediate & unconditional release of all of them from Pernem PS," state Congress president Girish Chodankar also said.

The 40 students were detained during the protests outside the Chief Minister's official residence and were detained at the Pernem police station subsequently.

In all 43,547 students in Goa are qualified to appear for Class X and XII exams which will begin from May 13 and April 25 respectively.A A

On Sunday, Goa reported its highest tally of daily Covid-19 cases with 951 persons testing positive. The state currently has 7,052 active Covid-19 patients.