HttpURLConnection throws java.net.SocketTimeoutException: SSL handshake timed out in Android 4.1.1

Question

My code works fine when it is run in Android 5.0 and up. But in Android 4.1.1 it throws java.net.SocketTimeoutException: SSL handshake timed out.

    URL url;
    HttpURLConnection connection = null; 
    String charset = "UTF-8";

    String accessToken = "";

    try {

        ArrayList<NameValuePair> postParameters = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
        postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("client_id", CLIENT_ID));
        postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("client_secret", CLIENT_SECRET));
        postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("grant_type", CLIENT_CREDENTIALS_GRANT_TYPE));

        //Create connection
        url = new URL(ACCESS_TOKEN_URL);
        connection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
        connection.setReadTimeout( 10000 /*milliseconds*/ );
        connection.setConnectTimeout( 15000 /* milliseconds */ );
        connection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false);
        connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
        connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=" + charset);
        connection.setUseCaches(false);
        connection.setDoInput(true);
        connection.setDoOutput(true);

        //Send request
        DataOutputStream wr = new DataOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
        wr.write(getQuery(postParameters).getBytes(charset));
        wr.flush();
        wr.close();

        int responseCode = connection.getResponseCode();
        InputStream is = null;

        if(responseCode==HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
            is = connection.getInputStream();
        }
        else{
            is = connection.getErrorStream();
        }

        Log.d(TAG, "responseCode: "+responseCode);

        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        String line = null;

        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            sb.append(line + "\n");
        }

        is.close();
        reader.close();

        String jsonResult = sb.toString();
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(jsonResult);

        if(responseCode==HttpStatus.SC_OK){
            accessToken = jsonObject.getString("access_token");
            SettingsPreference.setAccessToken(accessToken);
            Log.d(TAG, "access token: "+accessToken);
        }
        else {
            accessToken = null;
        }

    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {

        if(connection != null) {
          connection.disconnect(); 
        }
    }

I already done a lot of research and it is quite frustrating. What did I go wrong? Is this a server issue? Your help is greatly appreciated.