Prohibitory orders were imposed on Monday in parts of Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur town following communal tension as two groups belonging to different communities clashed, police said.
A member of a particular community was beaten up on Sunday night by few people belonging to another community while he was eating at a hotel in the Bus Stand area of the town, police said.
Soon the people of the other community also gathered there and the incident escalated into a clash. Several people were injured in the stone pelting that followed, police said.
"The clash between the people belonging to different communities started once again in the morning and seeing the tension escalating in adjoining localities, the administration had to clamp Section 144 till further orders," city police superintendent DP Gupta told IANS.
Prohibitory orders, under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, ban assembly of four persons or more at a place.
The areas of the city where the prohibitory orders have been imposed include Khanpur, Sadar Bazaar, Mand, Azad Chowk and Bus Stand.