A family that discovered that another body had been buried on top of their loved ones grave weeks after his death at Woodcock Hill Cemetery last year are now campaigning for the exclusive rights of burial deeds for over 700 Muslim graves at the cemetery.
Last month, MyLocalNews reported that an unrelated body had been placed in the same grave as 76-year-old Basheer Maghjee, who sadly passed away at the start of the pandemic.
Basheer’s nephew, Monty Meghjee began investigating and discovered that none of the families of the 706 graves in the Muslim section of the cemetery had been granted a Deed of Grant of Exclusive Right of Burial.
The site is administered by Three Rivers District Council but the Muslim section of graves is leased and looked after by BW Foundation, the charitable arm of the Salaam Centre based in Harrow.
Monty told MyLocalNews: “It is creating uncertainty within the community which is not nice. Whether it was a mistake or an oversight, they have been promising since last August that they are going to issue the deed and have not done so.
“If the deeds had been issued correctly, the two-tier burial policy would never have happened.”
Paula Hiscocks, Three Rivers District Councillor said: “I have been shocked and appalled by the policy. This has since highlighted the fact that none of the 700 Muslim families, whose relatives are buried in the Woodcock Cemetery, have ever received the burial deeds.
“Every non-Muslim family whose loved ones have been buried at Woodcock have received their deeds, as have every other family whose loved ones are buried at any other cemetery in the UK.
“The council has confirmed these burial deeds will be issued. However, to date, none have been issued. I would advise all affected families to write to the council and request their burial deeds. This is your legal right and will give you peace of mind and security regarding the ownership of your grave.”
To request your exclusive rights of burial deeds from Woodcock Hill Cemetery email cemetries@threerivers.gov.uk
Three Rivers District Council is expected to publish an internal report on July 7 and Monty hopes that the deeds will start to be issued before then.
BW Foundation was contacted for comment.
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