Srinagar, Aug. 11 -- Srinagar- The Supreme Court has clarified that its direction to states and Union Territories to immediately register FIRs in cases of missing persons applies to every individual, irrespective of age or gender, warning that non-compliant states could face contempt proceedings.

A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahadevan said it was "shocked" to learn that some states were under the impression that the expression "person" in its earlier order referred only to children and did not include adults.

"The expression 'person' means every person, irrespective of age or gender," the bench said in its August 5 order.

The court said that if any state or UT had failed to comply with its earlier direction "in its tr...