A writ petition was filed on Thursday in the High Court seeking directions to take steps to stop the spread of thalassemia disease.

Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the writ petition with the High Court attaching reports published in various national dailies on the spread of thalassemia disease.

The writ petitioners are Advocate Md. Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury and Advocate Ekhlas Uddin Bhuiyan.

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Manzil Morshed, the lawyer for the writ petition, said that the petition has been filed with the concerned branch of the High Court. The petition will be placed before a High Court bench next week for hearing.

The writ petition sought a rule on why the defendants should not be directed to take effective measures to prevent the spread of thalassemia disease and why they should not be directed to record thalassemia disease-related information of the bride and groom in the marriage registry form.

The writ petition also sought directives to form a seven-member expert committee to prepare guidelines to stop thalassemia disease and submit the draft guidelines of the committee to the court within 90 days.

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A total of eight people have been made defendants in the writ petition including Cabinet Secretary, Prime Minister's Office Secretary, Health Secretary, Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Secretary of the Law Ministry, and Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

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