diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/HiveTypeCoercion.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/HiveTypeCoercion.scala
index 1140150f66864..adeeabffa76bb 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/HiveTypeCoercion.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/HiveTypeCoercion.scala
@@ -280,6 +280,12 @@ object HiveTypeCoercion {
       case p @ BinaryComparison(left @ DateType(), right @ TimestampType()) =>
         p.makeCopy(Array(Cast(left, StringType), Cast(right, StringType)))
 
+      // Checking NullType
+      case p @ BinaryComparison(left @ StringType(), right @ NullType()) =>
+        p.makeCopy(Array(left, Literal.create(null, StringType)))
+      case p @ BinaryComparison(left @ NullType(), right @ StringType()) =>
+        p.makeCopy(Array(Literal.create(null, StringType), right))
+
       case p @ BinaryComparison(left @ StringType(), right) if right.dataType != StringType =>
         p.makeCopy(Array(Cast(left, DoubleType), right))
       case p @ BinaryComparison(left, right @ StringType()) if left.dataType != StringType =>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
index fa559c9c64005..b6c7310f84208 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
@@ -368,6 +368,17 @@ class ColumnExpressionSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     checkAnswer(
       nullData.filter($"a" <=> $"b"),
       Row(1, 1) :: Row(null, null) :: Nil)
+
+    val nullData2 = sqlContext.createDataFrame(sparkContext.parallelize(
+        Row("abc") ::
+        Row(null)  ::
+        Row("xyz") :: Nil),
+        StructType(Seq(StructField("a", StringType, true))))
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      nullData2.filter($"a" <=> null),
+      Row(null) :: Nil)
+
   }
 
   test(">") {