Terming the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as "extremely serious", the CPI(M) on Monday said it was shocked by the heavy death toll in the violence in the state.
"The situation is extremely serious. We are appalled and shocked at such a heavy death toll. 62 people have died so far. There is no justification whatsoever for the deaths of such a large number of people," party General Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, told reporters here.
Mr Karat, who was in the state along with other party leaders, said they wanted to convey the deep sense of sympathy and condolence to all those families who have lost their dear ones in the over two months of unrest in the valley.
"We also feel that the Central government and the state government of Jammu and Kashmir have tried to deal with it (unrest) as a purely law and order issue and resorted to administrative measures," he said.
Mr Karat said there are newspaper reports that people below the age of 18 years were being put in jail and added that the juvenile law in the state was very defective.
"I read in the newspaper reports about cases of children less than 18 years put to jail...You can't put 15-16 year old in jail. If the charge is throwing stones at the police, they can't be put in jail for that," he added.
The Valley was rocked by violence following the death of a teenager on June 11 after he was allegedly hit by a tear gas shell near Rajouri Kadal area. After that, street protests broke out in the Valley which has claimed 62 lives so far.