diff -r c68426b241ca Lib/urllib/request.py
--- a/Lib/urllib/request.py	Sat Jan 07 15:32:52 2012 -0800
+++ b/Lib/urllib/request.py	Sun Jan 08 11:49:35 2012 +0530
@@ -1162,11 +1162,22 @@
 
         try:
             h.request(req.get_method(), req.selector, req.data, headers)
-        except socket.error as err: # timeout error
+        except (http.client.HTTPException) as err: # error
             h.close()
-            raise URLError(err)
+            raise URLError("http.client.Exception %s:%s"%(err.__class__.__name__,str(err)))
+        except (socket.error) as err:
+            h.close()
+            raise URLError("socket.error %s:%s"%(err.__class__.__name__,str(err)))
         else:
-            r = h.getresponse()
+            try:
+                r = h.getresponse()
+            except (http.client.HTTPException) as err:
+                h.close()
+                raise URLError("http.client.Exception %s:%s"%(err.__class__.__name__,str(err)))
+            except (socket.error) as err:
+                h.close()
+                raise URLError("socket.error %s:%s"%(err.__class__.__name__,str(err)))
+
 
         r.url = req.get_full_url()
         # This line replaces the .msg attribute of the HTTPResponse
diff -r c68426b241ca Misc/ACKS
--- a/Misc/ACKS	Sat Jan 07 15:32:52 2012 -0800
+++ b/Misc/ACKS	Sun Jan 08 11:49:35 2012 +0530
@@ -1106,3 +1106,4 @@
 Kai Zhu
 Tarek Ziadé
 Peter Åstrand
+Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya