Is Āmal Kānsī a Shahīd? Did whatever he do was according to Islam? If not, then why do we say that Ghāzī ‘Ilm-Uddīn was a Shahīd.
Shahīd as a term of Islamic religious literature is one who spends his life in the struggle of uplifting the word of God and even sacrifices his life for this cause. Obviously this person must be obeying all the religious injunctions without a single exception. We cannot testify that such and such a person attained to the status of Shahīd even when he died in the battlefield fighting against the enemies of God, since no body can reveal true motives.
We Muslims commonly become sentimental and don’t turn to our religious sources to see what they have to say on this matter. Take for instance the case of the person you have referred to: Ghāzī ‘Ilmuddin. He was prompted to kill somebody who had passed sacrilegious remarks for the Prophet (sws). Had he tried to consult the law he would have turned to the authorities. Islamic law does not allow someone to take the law in his hands and execute anybody who he deems to be wrong. Whether an Islamic state would have given him the death sentence or not is another matter. But the fact remains that no individual has the authority to take the life of another human being.