Protests against the new citizenship law and the proposed NRC swept through a dozen districts of Madhya Pradesh as the Congress-ruled state joined the nationwide agitation against the Centre's twin controversial measures.
The protests were held against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in 12 districts - Bhopal, Shajapur, Khandwa, Khargone, Seoni, Gwalior, Betul, Ratlam, Barwani, Sagar, Ujjain and Panna, a police officer said.
Prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144, banning assembly of people, were clamped in 43 of the 52 districts in the state, he said.
The protesters included members from various sections of the society.
MP Police State Situation Room Inspector Harman Lakra said the protests were peaceful and no untoward incident has been reported from any of these 12 districts.
Prohibitory orders have not been imposed in nine districts - Guna, Shivpuri, Alirajpur, Dhar, Betul, Dindori, Hoshangabad, Tikamgarh and Niwari districts, he added.
In some districts, the CrPC section 144 was clamped on Wednesday and in others on Thursday morning, he added.
In Khandwa, protesters returning from the site of an anti-CAA agitation pelted stones at police, resulting in tension in the communally sensitive town, officials said.
Police wielded batons to disperse the stone-pelting crowd which damaged a car, they said.
Defying prohibitory orders imposed in the town, a large number of people gathered in the Idgah area to protest against the CAA and the proposed nation-wide implementation of the NRC).
After the end of the 'Save the Constitution' protest, agitators were returning from the site in form of a rally when the police intervened, an official said.
The police asked the protesters, who were raising slogans, not to take out the rally, he said.
This angered the marchers who pelted stones at police personnel in Imlipura and Bada Bam areas, causing tension in the communally sensitive town, the official said.
Police cane-charged the stone pelters, who damaged a car and a few other properties, he said.
City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Lalit Gathre and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Keshav Pande, among other officials, soon reached the spot and brought the situation under control, the official said.
The new citizenship law, passed by Parliament and approved by the President last week, has triggered massive protests across the country.
It promises Indian citizenship to persecuted non- Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
CAA's critics say the law is discriminatory and violates the core values of the Constitution.
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