App crashing sometimes, findViewById(R.id.search_layout) returning null

[suraj-vaish9av]

In MaterialSearchView there is a method initiateView in which the following statement:
mSearchLayout = findViewById(R.id.search_layout);
returning null sometime that is why the subsequent statement :
mSearchTopBar = (RelativeLayout) mSearchLayout.findViewById(R.id.search_top_bar);
throwing an exception.

Here is the log from firebase crashlytics:

Caused by java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.view.View android.view.View.findViewById(int)' on a null object reference
       at com.miguelcatalan.materialsearchview.MaterialSearchView.initiateView(MaterialSearchView.java:146)
       at com.miguelcatalan.materialsearchview.MaterialSearchView.<init>(MaterialSearchView.java:93)
       at com.miguelcatalan.materialsearchview.MaterialSearchView.<init>(MaterialSearchView.java:85)
       at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance0(Constructor.java)
       at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:430)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:652)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:812)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:752)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:883)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:886)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:886)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:886)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:886)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:886)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:846)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:522)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:430)
       at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:377)
       at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatDelegateImpl.setContentView(AppCompatDelegateImpl.java:696)
       at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity.setContentView(AppCompatActivity.java:170)
       at com.orderaxe.ajm.ui.home.HomeActivity.onCreate(HomeActivity.kt:97)
       at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:6868)
       at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1119)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2676)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2784)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap12(ActivityThread.java)
       at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1523)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:163)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6238)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:933)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:823)