How can a leader misuse his …

• A constitution helps serve as a set of rules and principles that all persons in a country can agree upon as the basis of the way in which they want the country to be governed. This includes not only the type of government they want but also an agreement on certain ideals that they all believe the country should uphold.
• Principles and ideals of a monarchy are quite different from those of a democracy. Therefore, soon after the transition in the government system in Nepal, the government started the process of making a new constitution of Nepal, because the earlier one did not suit their new democratic setup.
• Nepal was in need to change all its constitutive rules in order to usher in a new democratic society.
• The constitution defines the nature of a country’s political system. In a monarchy, the king or queen is the supreme power, whereas in a democracy, people rule the country and the government is run by the representatives elected by people at large.
• The constitution also prescribes rules that guard against misuse of power by the leaders. In the constitution of India, such provisions have been made in the section on Fundamental Rights.
• The Indian Constitution guarantees the right to equality to all citizens. It is one of the fundamental rights, and says that no citizen can be discriminated against on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender, or place of birth.
• The constitution ensures that a dominant group does not use its power against other, less powerful people or groups.
• The constitution also contains rules that ensure that minorities are not excluded from anything that is normally available to the majorities. The constitution thus prevents tyranny of or domination by the majority.
• The constitution also helps to protect us against any short-term decisions we might take that could adversely affect the fundamental, long-term principles we believe in.

A leader misusing his power may send his security guards to beat up his neighbours for a personal reason or ask the police not to take action against a relative who has committed a crime.