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Under the 158-year-old Adultery Law, known as Section 479, a man can be imprisoned for up to five years for having sex with a married woman without the consent of her husband.
The Supreme Court overturned the law on Thursday, deeming it retrograde and discriminatory against women.
"It's time to say that a husband is not the master of his wife," said Chief Justice Dipak Misra, quoted from the judgment. "The legal sovereignty of one sex on the other sex is false."
The bench of five judges was unanimous in its decision, stating that the law constituted a clear violation of the fundamental rights recognized in the constitution.
The law allowed a husband to sue any man who had sex with his wife. In addition, it prevented a woman from suing her husband or wife in extramarital affairs.
"Are you faithful to a woman but not a man?" asked judge D. Y. Chandrachud during the four-day hearing.
The petition was introduced by Joseph Shine, a native of Kerala, who had urged the higher court to reconsider the validity of article 497 because of his sexist bias.
"This is a great victory for the status and position of women in marriage and within families," said Jayna Kothari, lawyer and executive director of the Center for Law and Policy Research in Bangalore.
"The offense of adultery was used as a threat by husbands against women," she said, adding that it was mainly used when marriages were already broken and that partners had continued their journey.
Data indicating the number of men prosecuted under section 479 is not available.
"The sanctity of marriage"
The controversial law has long been championed by family rights advocates, who argued that it was necessary to preserve social stability.
However, in its judgment, the Supreme Court rejected fears that the abolition of the law would result in higher rates of infidelity.
"Every partner at a wedding is also responsible for keeping intact the sanctity of marriage," the decision said.
"Article 497 destroys and deprives women of dignity and undermines the dignity of women, self-respect because it treats women as moveable property."
In a statement posted on social media, the deputy of Sushmita Dev, chairman of the opposition party and chairman of the party's women's section, called the decision "excellent decision".
"A law that does not give women the right to sue her adulterous husband and can not be prosecuted herself if she commits adultery is an unequal treatment and militates against her status as an individual entity."
This is the second decision in favor of sexual liberation in India this month as a result of the repeal of Section 377, a colonial-era law criminalizing same-sex relationships consensual.
The law punished sexual intercourse "against the order of nature" and carried a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The decision to repeal the law was considered a major victory for Indian LGBT activists and supporters after years of determined struggle.
