Campaigner for deeds at Woodcock Hill Cemetery 'upset' with review

Three Rivers District Council has published a report ahead of a leisure, environment and community committee meeting this Wednesday which will discuss the handling of Exclusive Right of Burials at Woodcock Hill Cemetery in Rickmansworth.

This comes after comes after Monty Meghjee, whose 76-year-old uncle Basheer was laid to rest at the cemetery after he died from Covid-19 on March 25 last year, exposed the fact that not one family had been granted a Deed of Grant of Exclusive Right of Burial.

Instead, families have purchased burial rights from the BW Foundation; the organisation that leases the Muslim-side of the cemetery from Three Rivers District Council.

Just 12 days after the burial on March 27, the Meghjee family say they were unaware that the grave was opened up so that the corpse of an unrelated stranger could share the same grounds.

Basheer Meghjee was buried at Woodcock Hill Cemetery (Photo: Family handout)

The Meghjee family challenged the two-tier policy in the High Court but the policy was found to be “entirely lawful”.

Three Rivers District Council held an internal review to evaluate the handling of both the two-tier burials and the Exclusive Right of Burial deeds, but Mr Meghjee says the report now published shows no clear conclusion.

Read more:

• Muslim families campaign to get rights to grave deeds after 'oversight' of 30 years
• Families distraught as bodies of strangers were buried on top of loved ones in cemetery

He said: “I am disappointed, but not surprised that this long report did not really conclude with any actions.

“The Council have once again lost an opportunity to bring equity in how the cemetery is managed and treat the Muslim families as they treat the non-Muslims.

“Much is made in this document about how the BWF are not a public authority or a body performing the functions of a public authority and the public sector equality duty does not apply to them.

“That was a key reason why the court case was lost. But my main criticism of the whole arrangement is that the council, which is a public authority, subject to the public sector equality duty, has appointed a non-public authority to do the work of managing a section of a local authority cemetery and this has led to a difference in treatment between the Muslim and non-Muslim sections.”

Basheer (right) with his wife Zeenat, his son Abbas and daughter-in-law Zora

The Meghjee family had signed a document that consented to a two-tier burial, but they never once believed it would happen and signed the document because they wanted the burial to take place as quickly as possible, as is the practice in the Islam.

This meant that graves in the Muslim section of the cemetery – run by charity BW Foundation - could be reopened for a second body to be buried there if there was a shortage of plots due to a rise of deaths.

The policy, which has since been lifted, was introduced on March 16. The policy states the “emergence of the Covid-19 virus is expected to escalate demand for grave spaces significantly”.

The shared grave of Basheer Meghjee (Photo: Family handout)

Mr Meghjee explained that with the BW Foundation leasing the Muslim section, it meant Muslim members at the centre have historically been denied the “benefit of being served directly by the public authority” and were not given equal rights.

The report also stated that the grant of Exclusive Rights of Burial do not make a “practical difference” to families already buried in single-depth plots.

Mr Meghjee argued that this is not the case and said: “It does provide a greater right than without – and helps guard against interference later, for example if the graves were waterlogged and BWF was seeking a licence to disinter.

“It also points out another key difference in treatment between the Muslim and non-Muslim sections, without which the double-depth policy of burying unrelated parties could not have happened.”

Cllr Paula Hiscocks has backed the campaign

Three Rivers District Council says it is working with the BWF to return the deeds of Exclusive Rights of Burial to all families.

A district council spokesperson previously said: “The council granted the exclusive rights of burial in this part of the cemetery to BWF. So they hold, and continue to hold, the deeds. Families wishing to obtain a deed should therefore contact BWF, from whom they purchased the grave space, not the council.

“Nevertheless, we asked BWF to surrender their deeds of EROB back to the council so that we can then grant them to the families requesting them. BWF have agreed to do this and the legal process to formalise this is ongoing, but as with any complex legal process, it takes time.”

The leisure, environment and community committee meeting will take place on Wednesday (July 7) at 6.30pm.